Agency Spy

Recently the ASA has been banning ads left and right. We’ve been talking about this for weeks. Look here for our past posts. Major media has picked up on the ASA’s recent spree asking if they’ve gone to far. Here’s the real deal - it doesn’t matter if the association is nixing ads willy-nilly. We’re going to argue that in fact, they’re going to become more aggressive.

Yesterday, an eleven year old boy named Rhys Jones was shot dead by two teenagers in Liverpool rocking the nation. This comes on the heels of recent studies that have shown that youth crimes (both stabbings and shootings) are one the rise in the UK. As they should, the public turns to government agencies in times of extreme violence. As we’ve pointed out before, the ASA can act on its own, but most often responds to complaints from citizens. You better believe that the pressure to clean up crime and intervene in the lives of hundreds of thousands of British youths will play out in government policy and through the ASA.

If you’re creating spots for the UK make sure you keep all this in mind. Now is not the time to roll the dice with edgy advertising. If you do, be prepared for your brand and your agency to be demonized. You’ve been warned.