Sir Martin, chairman and CEO of the WPP Group, made the comments yesterday as he reported on his company's 2002 results, which saw profit before tax and exceptionals fall by 18.8% to £401m.
In the US, it is not uncommon to allow deferral of slots, but now advertisers are demanding outright cancellation rights.
According to reports, American Express, one of WPP Group's clients, is using the "war clause". Sir Martin said that advertisers were worried about the propriety of advertising during rolling war coverage, but said that he did not think that it would have an impact on advertising revenue unless the war is protracted.
US advertisers have been more sensitive than ever, since September 11 raised questions over what was appropriate to be advertised.
Earlier this month, HP was put in an embarrassing position when one of its ads showing an astronaut and featuring the line "with the help of HP's technology and servers, the world's space agencies can focus on getting their employees home safely" was shown during coverage of the space shuttle Columbia disaster, in which seven astronauts died and the shuttle destroyed.
The company pulled the ad within days of the incident.
However, it is unlikely that advertisers in the UK will be demanding war clauses, with the understanding on both sides that sensitive industries, such as airlines, would expect media companies to allow ads to be pulled under certain circumstances, whether or not it is written into the contract.
Sir Martin is predicting an upturn in advertising spend in 2004, but said that the possibility of a war in Iraq would increase uncertainty.
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