Industry agrees to changes to the code

Changes may be proposed by the public and by the marketing and communications industry. Representatives from The Association for Communication and Advertising, the Association of Marketers, the National Association of Broadcasters and the Print Media SA are nominated by the industry to serve on the Code Revision Committee.

The revised sections of the Code were finally agreed on by more than 20 industry bodies at the ASA's Annual General Meeting, which took place on 21 June 2002.

Among the revised clauses was the substantiation clause, which highlights that marketers submitting proof in relation to claims made in advertising must ensure that this proof is up to date and current, and has market relevance. The proof presented must also emanate from a source approved by, or acceptable to the South African Market Research Association. This clause further emphasizes that should claims made in advertising be based on research conducted by publications, the publication behind must be disclosed.

A new clause dealing with gender was also introduced. This clause is in line with the SA Constitution and reads "gender stereotyping or negative gender portrayal shall not be permitted in advertising, unless in the opinion of the ASA, such stereotyping or portrayal is reasonable and justifiable in an open and democratic society based on human dignity, equality and freedom."

Deline Beukes, the Executive Director of the ASA commented: "The role of the ASA is to act as a facilitator between those representing the public interest and those representing the industry when standards are set. The ASA also keeps abreast of international standards and will inform the Code Revision Committee of trends and changes."