The Australian Association of National Advertisers (AANA) and the Advertising Standards Bureau (ASB) have accused a government Senate inquiry into the classification system of failing to recognise the effectiveness of self-regulation.
A Senate inquiry into the national classification Scheme, including whether outdoor advertising should be included under the scheme, published its report today.
AANA director of Codes, Policy and Regulatory Affairs, Alina Bain said: "As Australia's peak advertising and marketing industry body, it is very concerning to us that an important inquiry such as this has failed to recognise the effectiveness of the current self-regulatory system."
The report made several recommendations, including that the advertising industry should be incorporated under the classification principles, categories, content, labelling, markings and warnings of the National Classification Scheme. However, it recommended that advertising itself should not be classified.
The AANA believes including the outdoor advertising industry in the scheme would be an unnecessary regulatory burden.
The Communications Council has also slammed the recommendation, "We have rejected recommendations for changes to the way the Advertising Standards Board assesses advertising complaints as providing no real improvement to the existing self- regulatory system."
ASB chief executive Fiona Jolly said: "As an integral part of the self-regulatory system in place in Australia, the ASB's complaints system does not suffer the failings of the Government run and funded classification system.
"I was disappointed that this recommendation doesn't recognise the work of the ASB in ensuring the complaints system reflects community standards. We seek community input through research and other contact and have a board that represents the diversity of Australia's population."
Submissions to the inquiry that called for a harder stance on the content of outdoor advertising pointed to the fact outdoor advertising is in the public domain and cannot be "turned off" by those who wished to avoid it.
A separate Government inquiry into outdoor advertising by the House of Representatives is yet to unveil its findings.
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