Advertising Codes of Practice

When creating any trailer or advertisement that is going to be aired on national television, as a producer, the codes of practise and legal aspects need to be covered to ensure that the product, in this case a film trailer, does not break any of these rules and laws and is considered acceptable by the Commitee of Advertising Practice (CAP). As we will be using actors that are under 18 years of age to create the most realistic effect we will need to look at the laws regarding the use of children and young people in productions.

Our trailer will also contain scenes of violence, gang culture and alcoholism, therefore showing a more negative representation and stereotype of deprived youths and so we will need to look at the laws regarding stereotyping to ensure that no one will be offended by our production, although we are trying to create a social realist film and give an explanation as to why some youths may choose to act in this negative way.

The use of props such as knifes and alcohol around young people may also be considered dangerous and may not comply with the codes of practise and therefore we will need to look into this and find a way of working around it. Below are the advertising codes of practice that will effect the production and staging of our film trailer:

Section 6.1: Offence
Advertisements must not cause serious or widespread offence against generally accepted moral, social or cultural standards, or offend against public feeling.

Notes:
(1) Although no list can be exhaustive, and values evolve over time, society has shared standards in areas such as:
(a) the portrayal of death, injury, violence (particularly sexual violence), cruelty or misfortune
(b) respect for the interests and dignity of minorities
(c) respect for spiritual beliefs, rites, sacred images etc
(d) sex and nudity, and the use of offensive language.
(2) The ASA does not judge cases simply, or even primarily, on the number of complaints received. It makes judgements about the likelihood of widespread offence as well as taking into account the possibility of deep, usually unintentional, offence to sections of the audience which have particular vulnerabilities.
(3) Particular circumstances can result in otherwise unobjectionable material causing offence. For example, a joke may cease to be acceptable if it seems to refer to a recent tragedy or if it appears close to a programme about a serious, related issue. On the other hand, if material might be on the edge of acceptability for a general audience but would be perfectly acceptable to, for
29 example, young adults, careful scheduling in ‘youth’ programmes may be sufficient to avoid causing offence.
(4) Whilst commercials for media products such as CDs and videos must not mislead about their content, any extracts from the products should not cause offence.

Section 6.2 Violence and cruelty
(a) Advertisements must not encourage or condone violence or cruelty
(b) Gratuitous and realistic portrayals of cruel or irresponsible treatment of people or animals are not acceptable

Notes to 6.2:
(1) Careful judgements are needed in this area. ‘Theatrical’ violence (for example, the mayhem common in action/adventure films) is generally acceptable, as is violence which has a stylised ‘cartoon’ or slapstick quality. Problems are more likely to arise where the violence seems to take place in everyday life and to involve ordinary people. However, care should be taken to avoid giving young viewers the impression that copying wrestling, martial arts etc would be safe, harmless fun.
(2) Advertisements must not appear to condone people using violence or aggression to get their own way in everyday life.
(3) Jokes about or involving violence require care and will usually need to be distanced from everyday life by being, for example, in cartoon form.
(4) Scenes which would otherwise be inappropriate may be acceptable to the audience in, for example, charity advertising or newsreel footage inadvertisements for news media.

Section 6.4 Personal distress
Advertisements must not, without good reason, contain material which is likely to cause serious distress to significant numbers of viewers.

Notes:
(1) Any appeal to fear should be justified and proportionate. Only mild material is likely to be acceptable in demonstrating, for example, the risks in not buying 30 life insurance. More disturbing material might be acceptable in, for example, road safety advertising.
(a) (re Medicines etc) and 10.14 (reDoctrinal Advertising).
(2) Scenarios which might be distressing reminders of tragic personal experiences for significant numbers of viewers should be carefully judged. For example, at any given time, many viewers will be recently bereaved.

Section 6.5 Protection of privacy and exploitation of the individual
With limited exceptions, living people must not be portrayed, caricatured or referred to in advertisements without their permission.

Section 6.6 Harmful or negative stereotypes
Advertisements must not prejudice respect for human dignity or humiliate, stigmatise or undermine the standing of identifiable groups of people.

Notes:
(1) The ASA and BCAP recognise that the use of stereotypes is an inevitable part of establishing characters within the brief span of a TV commercial. But some stereotypes can be harmful or deeply insulting to the groups in question and care is needed that they do not condone or feed prejudice or perpetuate damaging misconceptions. The ASA and BCAP would not, however, object to the use of stereotypes which, though objectionable to a few people, seem generally acceptable to most members of the group in question as well as to the broader public.
(2) Mild comments or humour about many characteristics can be harmless but sensitivity is always needed. Acceptability may depend on whether the characteristic is simply a matter of personal choice and whether it is of relatively minor significance. For example, hairstyles or hobbies lie at the ‘safer’ end of the spectrum whilst characteristics such as accent, disability, nationality and skin colour are at or towards the ‘sensitive’ end. Even gentle humour involving the latter characteristics has significant potential for offence or distress.
(3) Anything which could encourage or condone the idea that some serious negative characteristic is associated with a particular group must be avoided.
(4) Particular sensitivity is required where the group in question is generally recognised to encounter prejudice. The kind of humour which may be acceptable in other contexts can seem patronising or demeaning in these cases.
(5) Care is needed with stereotypes of children to avoid the risk of taunting or bullying. Children who are ‘different’ physically or in their behaviour, ability or background must not be presented as unpopular or unsuccessful. Nor should they normally be presented as non-users of a product or service or unworthy of it. Even if an advertisement portrays only adults being stereotyped, an illjudged stereotype could still be harmful to children (for example, by encouraging bullying).
(6) Experience has shown that well-meaning attempts by commercial advertisers to counter prejudice about, for example, race or disability can sometimes backfire. Appropriate guidance should be sought.

Section 6.7 Health and safety
Advertisements must not encourage or condone behaviour prejudicial to health and safety and advertisements must not use techniques that may directly harm viewers.

Notes:
(1) This does not prevent responsible advertising for products and services which, used to excess or abused, could endanger health or safety.
(2) The use of proper safety equipment or working practices must not be mocked or discouraged.
(3) Tools, hazardous substances etc should normally be shown being used and stored in accordance with their manufacturers’ instructions, relevant law and safety regulations.
(4) Where appropriate, licensees should seek appropriate ‘best practice’ advice relating to activities which can be dangerous, either in all circumstances or if undertaken without proper precautions. Relevant sources might be the codes of statutory bodies, statements of established public policy or published guidance from recognised independent safety organisations.
(5) Photo-Sensitive Epilepsy: See Ofcom’s Guidance Note for Licensees on Flashing Images and Regular Patterns in Television.

Section 7.4.3 Bullying
Advertisements must not encourage or condone bullying.

Notes:
(1) Except in appropriate charity or public service advertising, advertisements should not normally show scenes of bullying, taunting or teasing, or of children being ostracised or criticised behind their backs.
(2) Care is needed with stereotypes of children to avoid the risk of bullying. Children who are ‘different’ physically or in behaviour, ability or background must not be presented as unpopular or unsuccessful. Nor should they normally be presented as non-users of a product or service or unworthy of it. However, even if an advertisement portrays only adults being stereotyped, an
ill-judged stereotype could still be harmful to children (for example, by encouraging bullying).

Section 7.4.4 Vulnerability
Advertisements must neither encourage children to go off alone or withstrangers nor show them doing so.

When producing our film trailer we will therefore need to ensure that there is a balance between social realism of deprived youths and a negative stereotype that ironically is already widely reinforced by the current media of our society to ensure that the film complies with Section 6.6 Harmful and Negative Stereotyping as we dont want to create the representation that all youths are agressive and violent. I think that due to the fact our audience are of a similar age to the characters shown, they will relate to and understand the things that Erin goes through and therefore will not be offended by the stereotyping of her character as being from a soically and economically deprived background, as many youths from inner city areas will have shared similar experiences.

Due to Section 7.4.4 Vulnerability we need to be careful when showing clips of Erin running away from home and the violence that she witnesses and is a part of, as we do not want to show and encourage this as a way of solving problems to youths or as a something that will make you appear 'cool' to others. To ensure that this does not happen, we will make it clear that the audience are able to see the dangers and negative aspects of running away from home and being alone on the streets and to show that it does not help situations in any way, and in most cases it is likely to make things much worse for yourself.

The character of Erin's mother is going to be portrayed as an alcoholic and therefore we need to be careful with the approach we have to this to comply with Section 6.7 Health and Safety and to ensure that no one is offended by such a delicate subject as people may have lost relatives due to alcoholism and therefore Section 6.1 Offence, needs to be looked at closely along with Section 6.4 Personal Distress to ensure that no one is upset or made to feel offended by the content we have chose to include within our film trailer.

We will therefore not be using real alcohol within the trailer and will use implication as a way of allowing the viewer to acknoledge themselves that the mother is an alcoholic, rather than physically show the audience of the mothers alcoholic problem so that no one is offended by images of alcoholism which some may find disturbing. Another issue is the violence and agression that Erin uses as a way of escape, as well as the fight that she witnesses before taking control of her life as we do not want to promote or condone violence in any way, as it is dangerous and life threatening.

We will therefore we will need to look closely at Section 6.2 Violence and Cruelty when deciding on how much of the fight scenes and violence to show, this will also be affected by the certification of the film, as well as Section 6.1 Offence as we do not want to cause offense to particular groups within society or cause negative feedback. Due to the fact that Erins character will also use this violence as a way of escaping her alcoholic mother and the bullying she faces at school we will also therefore need to look at issues regarding the inclusion of bullying, accroding to Section 7.4.3 Bullying to make it clear to the audience that bullying is damaging and a very negative thing that ruins lives.

As the code of practice states, children who are considered 'different' should not be portrayed as unsuccessful or unpopular amongst other youths and therefore we will ensure that Erins character is just a 'normal' every day girl, who is outcasted by her peers through her own choice, wanting to be alone, with only herself for a companion, due to her negative home life. Her peers from school will not necassarily treat her badly or commit acts of bullying against her as before her significant character change, she will almost blend into the background but there will be a stark contrast between the moods and emotions which Erin shows, compared with the emotions shown amongst the other characters.