Primary+Stakeholders

primary stakeholders. The two primary stakeholders in this issue are the so-called “self regulatory bodies” (ASC) who monitor advertising standards, and the corporations themselves who seek to produce the aforementioned advertisements. The main player on the side of the consumer is Advertising Standards Canada (ASC), a nonprofit, self regulatory organization created by the advertising industry itself to ensure that the integrity of all advertisements (ASC). This is accomplished through the “administration of a total of 12 codes of advertising standards; three main codes plus a further eight industry-specific codes and the Guidelines on Sex-role Stereotyping” (Harker, 1998). The ASC’s position on advertising is that provided a corporation follows their set guidelines about portrayals and accuracy, is not explicit or indecent, the advertisement may be broadcasted or put into print. As such, these guidelines are quite stringent and exhaustive in its stipulations of what is considered acceptable and not. For example, the Gender Portrayal Guidelines, as set out by the ASC, demands adherence to its six standards that include “authority, decision-making, sexuality, violence, diversity, and language” (ASC).

To get a better understanding of these guidelines one simply looks to their definitions of said terms; the diversity guideline states, “advertising should portray both women and men in the full spectrum of diversity and as equally competent in a wide range of activities both inside and outside the home” (ASC), while the violence guideline offers the following: “neither sex should be portrayed as exerting domination over the other by means of overt or implied threats, or actual force” (ASC). Furthermore, within the 14 clauses of the “Canadian Code of Advertising Standards” (CCAS), there lie two clauses concerned with nature of advertisements directed towards children, as well as advertisements that “condone any form of personal discrimination, including that based upon race […] or sex” (ASC). Although formed by the very industry that it intends to supervise, ASC aims to provide the most thorough regulation of advertising possible to Canadians.

This leaves the only other, and rather obvious, primary stakeholder in the advertising industry; the corporations themselves. They are the source of the fodder fed to the masses and as such, they are automatically granted the most influence in this issue. Although ASC governs their productions and restricts what is made available to the public, the fact remains that the corporations ultimately decides what sort of advertisements to create in the first place. ASC may limit and ban as many proposals as they wish under moral and ethical beliefs, but the source of the material itself does not necessarily hold the same standards. The companies that seek approval for the promotion of their products want for only one thing: the enticement of potential and returning customers. Thus they will attempt to use anything that could be construed as appealing to consumers. Although these companies will run the risk of alienating small pockets of potential consumers with mildly offensive advertisements, the purpose is to attract the larger section of the population, thus leaving minority groups completely disregarded.

This is not to say however that wary consumers have no say in the matter. ASC does indeed accept consumer and special interest group complaints about questionable advertisements. These complaints are put under review of the various codes ASC has set forth, and if the advertisement in question is found inappropriate the producer will be asked to either alter or remove it entirely.