The Australian Association of National Advertisers (AANA) has slammed the formation of an independent Alcohol Advertising Review Board as a powerless "action by activists” that will “reduce the effectiveness” of the Advertising Standards Board.
The newly formed review board has been established to assess alcohol advertising in Australia, with a focus on the consideration and adjudication of complaints received from the community. In a statement to the media today, the Alcohol Advertising Review Board stated it was “an independent alternative to Australia’s current inadequate and ineffective advertising self-regulation system”.
The board is a joint initiative between Cancer Council Western Australia and the McCusker Centre for Action on Alcohol and Youth (MCAAY).
“The industry-based Alcohol Beverages Advertising Code [ABAC] is absolutely inadequate when it comes to reining in the industry’s promotional activities,” said MCAAY director Professor Mike Daube. “The code is voluntary, does not cover all forms of advertising or all alcohol advertisers, does not address issues such as placement, and has no powers to penalise advertisers that breach the code. In short, it’s useless.”
But AANA CEO Scott McClellan said today in a statement the review board “has no power to enforce rulings, no independence, and no standing whatsoever in the community”.
McClellan said: “Make no mistake, this action by activists - to form an alternative complaints mechanism to the Advertising Standards Board [ASB] and ABAC - is the action of those who want to tear the advertising complaints system.
“At the moment if a member of the public lodges a complaint with the ASB and it is upheld there will be a satisfactory resolution with the advertisement removed by the advertiser and the media outlets.
"Setting up your own self-appointed adjudication system that has zero effectiveness or authority will simply confuse the public [and] reduce the effectiveness of the independent ASB, and is therefore to the detriment of the Australian community."
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