[DRAFT #7] The Advertising Standards Act

[Berginseln]

The General Assembly,
OBSERVING that there is little regulation of advertising in many nations and,

BELIEVING that having no regulation can lead to manipulative practices to exploit and mislead the public.
Hereby enacts the following:

1. DEFINES the following words in the context of this law:
   
   
   1. An “Advertisement” as a piece of media that is created by a company or organisation with the purpose of changing an individuals opinion on a product, service, brand or idea.
      
   2. “Subliminal messages” as flashing imagery, text or images that are too quick for the conscious brain to properly recognise.
      
   3. A "Paid Endorsement" as an exchange of goods or services in return for an endorsement of an individual, organisation or company.
      
   4. A "Paid Product Placement" as a practice in which manufacturers of goods or providers of a service gain exposure for their products by paying for them (whether that be in monetary form or through goods and services) to be featured in films and television programmes.
2. MANDATES these guidelines:
   
   
   1. Advertisements must show a fair representation of the product or service it is advertising. It may not present unrealistic, unlikely, or false interpretations of the product’s function, form, or desired effect.
      
   2. When advertisements make claims there must be some verifiable evidence to suggest that it may be correct
      
      
      1. Advertisers must make this evidence public, free and easily accessible with information on how to obtain it within the advertisement itself, E.g a website containing information and evidence with the address visible in the advertisement
   3. Advertisements must not show rapidly flashing imagery as it may cause seizures or epileptic fits
      
   4. Advertisements must not show real world violent imagery
      
   5. Advertisements shown around content aimed for minors cannot:
      
      
      1. Advertise and contain gambling, vaping devices, firearms and substances illegal for minors
         
      2. Directly tell the minors to buy the product or to ask the minors to ask their parents to buy the product
   6. A paid endorsement or paid product placement is also a form of advertisement and it must be overtly stated who paid for the endorsement or product placement
      
   7. Subliminal messages must not be allowed under any circumstances
      
   8. Advertisers cannot mislead consumers by implying false claims about themselves or other entities

[Berginseln]

Could I have some feedback on this.

[Xanthorrhoea]

If you wait longer than 13 hours, then yes. Give people time to digest it, things move slowly around here

Edit:
First pass of feedback:

b. “Subliminal messages” as a marketing technique purposefully used to influence the consumer into thinking a certain way about a product, company, brand or organisation. This could involve quick flashes of words or images, subtle sounds or small cues and references that target the consumers subconscious.

This defines literally all advertising as subliminal messages. All advertising is designed to purposely influence consumers’ thinking, that’s the point. This definition combined with clause 2.g effectively bans all advertisements from being used in advertising. i.e. effectively bans all ads. I’m not convinced this is even necessary, as the whole concept of ‘subliminal messages’ is dubious at best (please correct me if the research has changed since I last checked). I’d advise just dropping the subliminal messages provisions altogether. If you really want to keep it, it needs to be much more narrowly defined.

c. A “Substance” as a product for the sole use of consuming

I don’t think this definition really adds much. Is there a specific reason you included it?

2.) IMPLORES that ALL Nations follow these guidelines:

Imploring all nations has no binding legal effect. You should mandate the laws you want to write, not ask nicely. I suppose you could leave it as is and categorise the resolution as ‘weak’, but seeing as nations are already able to regulate advertising if they want, I don’t really see the point.

a. Advertisements must show a fair representation of the product or service it is advertising. It may not present unrealistic, unlikely or false interpretations of the product’s function or form.

i. Similarly the advertisement must not show unrealistic, unlikely or false consequences to not using the product or service

I feel like you can merge these two clauses into one by jiggling the phrasing around a bit, which would make it read more cleanly. I’d also like some prohibition on advertisements likely to mislead or deceive consumers, as companies can get very creative with not ‘quite’ lying.

b. When advertisements present facts there must some verifiable evidence to suggest that it may be correct

I don’t really like the use of the phrase ‘present facts’. It can lead to weasel words and companies avoiding stating things as concrete facts to allows false impressions. I’d much prefer something like ‘make claims’. I’d also include a provision requiring companies to produce this evidence when asked. Otherwise ‘I promise there’s evidence your honour, my dog just ate it’ might become a common argument.

e. Advertisements shown around content aimed for children cannot:

i. Advertise or contain gambling, vaping devices, firearms and substances illegal for minors

ii. Directly tell the children to buy the product or to ask the children to ask their parents to buy the product

e.i: I’d rather an ‘or’ instead of an ‘and’. Just being nitpicky here. Also, you switch between the terms ‘children’ and ‘minors’. I’d advise only using one term to avoid vagueness and confusion.

Otherwise, the concept seems interesting, so I’m curious to see where this goes. I’d recommend experimenting with the list function on the forums to format the proposal (you can even make nested lists). It would make it a bit easier to read.

Welcome to the GA! Typically proposal drafts stay up for a few weeks at least for review and refining. It can seem slow, but many of the best contributors don’t log in every day, so it’s worth leaving it up so they can read through and present their thoughts.

[Berginseln]

Thank you! your feedback was great and I have made many changes, however I still believe that subliminal messages should be covered by the law in some capacity but I did narrow down my definition, however I'm still open to feedback.

[Untecna]

Just some quick suggestions.

OBSERVING that there is little regulation of advertising in many nations.
BELIEVING that having no regulation can lead to manipulative practices to exploit and mislead the public.
Hereby,

• 1.) DEFINES the following words in the context of this law:
  
  
  • a.) An “Advertisement” as a piece of media that is created by a company or organisation organization with the purpose of furthering a brand or a product.
    
  • b.) “Subliminal messages” as flashing imagery, text or images that are too quick for the conscious brain to properly recognise. recognize
• 2.) MANDATES that ALL Not required to have this. All member nations will have to follow it anyways. Also, you can legislate on non-members. Nations follow these guidelines:
  
  
  • a.) Advertisements must show a fair representation of the product or service it is advertising. It may not present unrealistic, unlikely, or false interpretations of the product’s function, form,or desired effect.
    
  • b.) When advertisements make claims there must be some verifiable evidence to suggest that it may be correct
    
    
    • i.) Moreover advertisers must make this evidence public, free, and easily accessible with information on how to obtain it within the advertisement itself
  • c.) Advertisements must not show rapidly flashing imagery as it may cause seizures or epileptic fits
    
  • d.) Advertisements must not show real world violent imagery
    
  • e.) Advertisements shown around content aimed for minors cannot:
    
    
    • i.) Advertise and contain gambling, vaping devices, firearms and substances illegal for minors
      
    • ii.) Directly tell the minors to buy the product or to ask the minors to ask their parents to buy the product
  • f.) An endorsement or product placement is also a form of advertisement and it must be overtly stated who paid for the endorsement or product placement
    
  • g.) Subliminal messages must not be allowed in any circumstance
    
  • h.) Advertisers cannot mislead consumers by inferring false claims about themselves or other entities

[Berginseln]

ok thanks

[Untecna]

Some further suggestions:

The World Assembly OR The General Assembly, pick one.
OBSERVING that there is little regulation of advertising in many nations, and
Add a space here.
BELIEVING that having no regulation can lead to manipulative practices to exploit and mislead the public,
Hereby enacts the following:

• Remove the list and point code before this.1.) DEFINES the following words in the context of this law:
  
  
  • a.) An “Advertisement” as a piece of media that is created by a company or organisation organizationwith the purpose of furthering a brand or a product.
    You can make numbered lists by using the code

    Code: Select all

    [list=1]

    , or replacing the 1 with an "a" to make a lettered list.
  • b.) “Subliminal messages” as flashing imagery, text or images that are too quick for the conscious brain to properly recognise. recognize
• 2.) No need for a list here either.MANDATES these guidelines:
  
  See above numbered/lettered list help.
  
  • a.) Advertisements must show a fair representation of the product or service it is advertising. It may not present unrealistic, unlikely Add a comma hereor false interpretations of the product’s function, form Comma hereor desired effect.
    
  • b.) When advertisements make claims there must be some verifiable evidence to suggest that it may be correct Considering this covers all advertisements, you should add a clause describing where this evidence must be, seeing as with TV ads adding extra info would be almost impossible without taking up more time.
    
    • i.) Moreover advertisers must make this evidence public, free and easily accessible with information on how to obtain it within the advertisement itself
  • c.) Advertisements must not show rapidly flashing imagery as it may cause seizures or epileptic fits
    
  • d.) Advertisements must not show real world violent imagery
    
  • e.) Advertisements shown around content aimed for minors cannot:
    
    
    • i.) Advertise and contain gambling, vaping devices, firearms and substances illegal for minors
      
    • ii.) Directly tell the minors to buy the product or to ask the minors to ask their parents to buy the product
  • f.) An endorsement or product placement is also a form of advertisement and it must be overtly stated who paid for the endorsement or product placement
    
  • g.) Subliminal messages must not be allowed in any circumstance
    
  • h.) Advertisers cannot mislead consumers by inferring false claims about themselves or other entities

[Berginseln]

OOC: i agree with almost everything here and will make these changes however i will say the spelling of organisation and recognise can be interchangeable and its not incorrect

[Untecna]

OOC: i agree with almost everything here and will make these changes however i will say the spelling of organisation and recognise can be interchangeable and its not incorrect

Excuse the spelling nitpick then.

[Berginseln]

I have made all edits which have been requested

[Xanthorrhoea]

Minor thing, in clause 2h, I think you mean ‘imply’, not ‘infer’

2bi could also use an edit to make it more brief. It currently reads a little bloggy.

For your ‘i’ clauses, you can write [list=i] to remove the bullet points.

[Berginseln]

Thank you, your feedback has been very useful and i've edited it further.

[Imperium Anglorum]

An “Advertisement” as a piece of media that is created by a company or organisation with the purpose of furthering a brand or a product.

C Marcius Blythe. I would hope that this would be more clear. When M Porcius Cato made bowls with which to hand out food to the masses to promote his brand, was that an advertisement? When a television studio makes another episode of their own intellectual property, is that an advert?

[Berginseln]

I understand your point but i am finding it hard to be specific because advertising is such a diverse field limiting it to just a few forms of media will allow advertisers to get "creative", it also prevents it from being future proofed by new advertising technology and methods. I am open to different suggestions on how to phrase it but for now I will keep it as is.

[Untecna]

I understand your point but i am finding it hard to be specific because advertising is such a diverse field limiting it to just a few forms of media will allow advertisers to get "creative", it also prevents it from being future proofed by new advertising technology and methods. I am open to different suggestions on how to phrase it but for now I will keep it as is.

"The definition is too broad" is what IA was saying. You need to eliminate any assumption that anything promoting a brand is, inherently, advertising.

[Berginseln]

I have tried my best to specify on what an advertisement is, I do not think I can get more specific without it making the law worse.

[Berginseln]

Added definitions of paid endorsements and paid products because I thought that might be necessary.

[Untecna]

OOC: Bergin, I don't believe this was at all ready to submit. You barely got any feedback, in terms of how many posts are here, and you only put the draft here 6 days ago. My recommendation is to unsubmit it and keep drafting here.

I'll also note that the draft doesn't need to go up a number every time a change is made. If it's a small change, just add a letter next to the current number, starting with "a" and going down the list. If it's a major change, change the number.

[Berginseln]

OOC: Ok sorry I'm new here and I don't know the general standards I took down the proposal.

[Untecna]

OOC: Ok sorry I'm new here and I don't know the general standards I took down the proposal.

Generally, it's good to keep a draft up for a bit. Rushing it won't get the draft anywhere.