Outdoor Ads? They’re Alright By Us

Credos (the think tank for advertising) unveiled an interesting piece of research last week, investigating public views on the use of sexualised imagery (think girls in bikinis and boys wearing briefs) in outdoor advertising.

As some of you will already know, the OMC and the Advertising Association have both spent the last 18 months working with the government and the ASA to figure out exactly how much bare leg it takes to corrupt a nation’s youth (if any) and asking whether advertisers, agencies and media owners need to tone down our saucier billboards.

The report sheds a little new light on what real people (hint: not politicians) actually think about this stuff. All of the data can be viewed here, but to save you the bother of all of that boring number crunching, yours truly has summarised the views of the hundreds of people Credos spoke to and boiled it down to three easily digestible sentences, for the lazy busy readers of this blog:

• The people (over 1000) Credos spoke to just aren’t that worried or offended by the examples of outdoor advertising they were shown. And just 11% said (when prompted) that they were likely to be offended by ads they’ve seen outdoors.
• Credos showed a range of different outdoor ads to people and asked them which ones they found offensive. The ones the majority picked were ones already banned by the ASA. Which is handy – as that’s exactly the point of having an advertising regulator.
• Outdoor advertising came 5th – yes, 5th – in its capacity to offend, behind those bad ‘uns in TV, internet, mobile and, er, direct mail.

All of that should make encouraging reading for an industry that has perhaps (whisper it) copped rather more of the blame for our sexualised society than the evidence suggests it deserves. Time will tell if this report from Credos will start to redress a bit of that balance…

Poster Boy

PS for those of you who only read down this far in the desperate hope you might get to look at someone attractive wearing very little, here’s a reward for your persistence:

18% of people Credos spoke to found this ad offensive. Nobody knows how many just found it a bit rubbish. Either way, it had already been banned by the ASA

And for those of you who like tennis, here’s another:

Nadal, on a bus. What's not to like?

PB

http://www.outdoormediacentre.co.uk/

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Sniffing The Air, Outdoors

By the OMC’s Poster Boy

Today’s Guardian  reports that the ASA has upheld complaints against a Marks & Spencer outdoor ad for being “overtly sexual.”

M&S argued that they did not believe the ads were offensive or objectifying and that the ads simply featured the product – a lingerie range – that they were well known for selling. But the ad regulator disagreed saying “we considered that the image was of an overtly sexual nature and was therefore unsuitable for untargeted outdoor display, as it was likely to be seen by children.”

The ruling comes hot on the heels of a Downing Street meeting last month, where industry leaders – including the OMC’s Mike Baker – met the Prime Minister to discuss progress on reducing the “commercialisation and sexualisation of childhood.”

In the wake of the government-commissioned Bailey Review, the OMC has been advising its membership on the use of raunchy imagery in outdoor ads and has also offered concerned advertisers the ability to request their work is not displayed within 100m of schools or other sensitive locations.

The ASA also issued new guidance for advertisers (here) which is designed to help make sure that out of home campaigns keep pace with the changes in public mood which the ASA and government believe they have sniffed.

Poster Boy is of the opinion that outdoor advertising almost always gets this stuff right – the industry knows its customers and recognises the responsibility that comes with displaying ads in a public space. But forthcoming research, commissioned by the OMC and carried out by advertising think-tank Credos – should throw more light on what consumers think the limits are when advertising outdoors.

As ever, watch this space.

Poster Boy

http://www.outdoormediacentre.co.uk/

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