Credit Where it’s Due: Fiona Jolly

October 27, 2015 3:34

It’s a decade since Fiona Jolly was asked to take the reigns of the ad industry watchdog, the Advertising Standards Bureau. It was, at the time, a conflicted, secretive, slow and narrowly focused regulator in need of a jolly good shakeup. Ten years on, she has delivered.

Australia’s system of advertising self-regulation was set up in 1998, emerging from the rubble of the previous system which had been tied to the advertising agency system of accreditation ruled out of date in a Federal Court decision.

The decision left Australia without an advertising regulator for nearly two years as the industry scrambled to develop one of self-regulation, but the version, set up under the guidance of the Australian Association of National Advertisers, was troubled from the outset.

Slow to react, with narrow terms of reference and a chairman who was also a director of the AANA and a public advocate for freedom of commercial speech, the ASB struggled to find true public acceptance.

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Simon Canning

Simon Canning was Mumbrella's marketing and advertising editor from 2015-2017. In a career spanning journalism and communications over more than 30 years Simon has become one of Australia’s most respected analysts and commentators on the advertising, marketing and media industries. A regular commentator on radio and TV, Simon has also worked in media in the US and UK .

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