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’It ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ was the classic advice of one senior

industry figure when I asked him what he thought of the Advertising

Standards Authority. Ninety-seven per cent of non-broadcast advertising

complies with the Codes. Consumers, industry and the Government seem

happy enough.

So why are we conducting a root and branch review of our processes and

procedures? What’s the problem?

The ASA has a fine reputation which is well deserved. It handles 12,000

complaints a year, with fairness and thoroughness. Self-regulation of

non-broadcast advertising is understood and accepted by the

industry.

The famous tick has strong brand recognition with consumers. The

Government, too, thinks the system works well.

It’s not that there is a problem as such. But what people expect from

bodies such as the ASA is changing. Our stakeholders - consumers,

industry and the Government - want more, and better and faster. I want

the ASA to keep ahead of the game and I want us to be more aware of what

is expected of us.

The ASA accepts the need to speed up the process of handling

complaints.

We want our decisions to be timely, relevant, proportionate and in the

public interest. Sometimes complex investigations get bogged down in

claim and counter-claim. We aim to cut through the fog of advertiser

resistance to arrive at speedier decisions, while ensuring that we

remain fair.

Consumers expect modern regulatory bodies to be open, accountable and

transparent. This autumn we shall relaunch our website to give much more

information about who we are and what we do.

We need to reconnect with the advertising business. We shall be inviting

the practitioners in to see what we do and to meet our staff. We intend

to show the industry that we are practical people who want to make a

success of self-regulation for everyone’s benefit.

Putting the ’self’ back into self-regulation means the industry taking

greater responsibility for compliance. In the future I’d like to see

greater practical support for self-regulation and less questioning of

the referee’s decisions when the whistle is blown. If the industry wants

a non-statutory approach to continue, it must understand that there will

be red cards.

Finally, how is digital communication likely to change things? Clearly,

digital has major implications for the advertising that we supervise.

The Committee of Advertising Practice/ASA self-regulation is responsible

for internet advertising because it is ’non-broadcast advertising’. But,

with digital convergence, what is non-broadcast anyway?

I am not spending a lot of time worrying about single regulators. There

is enough we need to do to tune the ASA machine. But the ASA must not be

caught out by some left-field development in the autumn White Paper.

Our motto for the autumn is ’be prepared’.

More immediately, digital means being ready for broadband and an

increase in business over the net. Complaints to the ASA about internet

advertising are growing and increasingly people use e-mail to contact

us.

So there’s lots to do. I’m determined that the ASA continues to be

effective in upholding advertising standards. We will work hard to

retain the confidence of consumers and industry alike, whatever changes

we face.

Have your say at www.campaignlive.com on channel 4.