In Australia, the Ad Standards organization conducts industry self-regulation based on codes developed by parent group Australian Association of National Advertisers designed to ensure advertising meets community standards and regularly reviewed with input from industry and the community.

Ad Standards operates much like the UK’s ASA by investigating complaints from consumers as well as from businesses. As well, like the ASA it focuses largely on whether advertising is offensive while also determining whether claims, including some made for health care products, are substantiated and on whether material connections influencers and other promoters have with advertised brands are disclosed.

Recent health product advertising decisions by Ad Standards include a determination that three Pierre Fabre Group social media posts for its Avene sunscreens featuring Australian Olympic swimmer and world-record holder Cate Campbell, who promotes the brand, were clearly distinguishable as advertisements.

The Braddon-based organization said how the influencer held the product in two images “looked staged and gave the impression that the content was promotional rather than organic.” The third post featured only the product.

Text in the posts “read like an ad as it included a disclaimer about reading the label and following the product directions, as well as further comments on sun safety,” the Ad Standards report stated.

Also in February, Ad Standards, after responding to consumer complaints, published a finding that Hairmop Pty Ltd.’s advertisement for its Mosh Rx erectile dysfunction drug treated sex, sexuality and nudity with sensitivity to the relevant broad audience and did not breach AANA codes.

In December, the organization announced a partnership with Australian-owned advertising intelligence platform Bigdatr. Ad Standards has access to Bigdatr’s advertising creative database, allowing it to quickly identify ads which are subjects of community complaints.

Australian Teeth Whitener Marketer Frowns On Industry Self-Regulation Referencing US Laws

International Standards In Play When Foreign Firms Promote Consumer Health Products In US?

More from Asia

More from Geography