Advertising watchdog calls for official role reviewing government and election ads
ASB wants a role vetting government ads for partisan messages
The head of the Advertising Standards Bureau (ASB) has called for the watchdog to have an official role reviewing government advertising for partisanship and party messages.
With the election in full swing, Fiona Jolly, CEO of the ASB, said Australia should look at a system similar to one adopted this week in Canada which sees the government pay the advertising watchdog for a service that reviews all ads before being released.
Jolly said advertising could be particularly confusing for consumers during an election campaign where people often found it hard to distinguish between official government ads and election ads run by the parties.
someone needs to do something about Malc and Bills ads tbh – they are worse than shite. makes me dislike them both even more.
The campaign name “Girls make your move” defeminates women. I don’t think I saw a single girl in that ad, and a lot of those actors probably haven’t been girls for some time.
We don’t need a system like Canada. It is already the law that the moment the election is called all government advertising (such as the ideas boom and “girls make your move”) have to cease immediately. The only exception is made for the Electoral Commission adverts – close of rolls, etc. For other government advertising to go to air, there needs to be bi-partisan agreement. This year the Domestic Violence campaigns and the Tobacco Cessation campaigns will continue as they have bi-partisan support. We won’t be seeing any feelgood campaigns like the Ideas Boom during the election campaign period.