The ASA and Copyrighting

ASA
The Advertising Standards Authority is the independent body set up by the advertising industry to police the rules laid down in the advertising codes. The strength of the self-regulatory system lies in both the independence of the ASA and the support and commitment of the advertising industry, through the Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP), to the standards of the codes, protecting consumers and creating a level playing field for advertisers




CAP
Admired around the world for its creativity, the UK advertising industry sets the standard in successful self-regulation. Our industry is governed by codes of practice that are designed to protect consumers and create a level playing field for advertisers. The Codes are the responsibility of two industry Committees of Advertising Practice - CAP (Broadcast) and CAP (Non-broadcast) and are independently administered by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA).


Taste and Decency

• The advertising codes state that advertisements should contain nothing that is likely to cause serious or widespread offence.

• The codes also require that special care is taken to avoid causing offence on the grounds of race, religion, sex, sexual orientation or disability.

• When the ASA Council decides whether an ad complies with the codes it will judge on the context, medium, audience, product and prevailing standards of decency.

Taste and decency are obviously important in determining whether an advert is fit for general broadcast. It poses questions and inspires arguments like the state of social decline, this is exemplified with phrases like 'sex sells'.

Some argue that with every pot noodle advert that uses a brothel to sell it's products, the country slips to some degree into a steeper social decline.
On the other hand, is it important to portray sex, violence even mild swearing in advertisements? Is it the case that as we become more and more desensitized each time we view such products, we accept that we are diverse, cultured and able to handle such content in a sensible way?

What do people find tasteful, some would liken a football match to a ballet whereas others see football as a game which fuels corporations and inspires unhealthy competition.
Benetton have continued over the last decade to shock audiences with their vivid, insightful and deeply sensitive imagery to advertise...clothes. Is this acceptable?


Social Responsibility

• The use of shocking images that could cause undue fear and distress.

• The depiction of scenes that could encourage people to behave in an irresponsible or unsafe way.

• The advertising of products, or their consumption, in ways that can be harmful to health.

• Advertising to children that could make them feel inferior, encourage them to pester their parents, or result in their physical, mental or moral harm. (See the section on Children and Advertising).

Children and Advertising

Common issues surrounding children and advertising are:

• Making children desire things they cannot afford or would not be able to use.

• Pester power: encouraging children to pester their parents for advertised products or services.

• Showing children in unsafe or dangerous situations that other kids might emulate.

• Making children feel inferior, especially if they don’t buy the products or services shown in the ads.

• Showing children in a sexual way. I.e. wearing make-up and glamorous clothes.

• Advertising soft drinks & high fat / sugar foods to children.

Children are young, vulnerable and inexperienced. This therefore makes them prone to accepting a situation simply because it has been portrayed to them in a way they like or because they have been told it is correct.
Many adverts used to sell products for children in a way that suggested that the child would not be cool or good enough without that product.

The ASA now work under strict guidelines to prevent such feelings being felt by young audiences and to protect children from actions which could harm them.

All sources from and available from the ASA website.

Real Children DON'T Bounce Back (Youtube)

The above advert is a famous campaign by the NSPCC in which a cartoon child is abused by an adult to highlight the very real and very serious issue of child abuse. The campaign was highly successful, however, it still needed to be cleared by the ASA. Should it have been cleared, or is even a cartoon image of a child being abused to taboo for general broadcast?



Copyrighting

Copyright is a set of exclusive rights that regulate the use of a particular expression of an idea or information. At its most general, it is literally "the rights to copy" an original creation. In most cases, these rights are of limited duration. The symbol for copyright is "©", and in some jurisdictions may alternatively be written as either (c) or (C).
(Wikipedia)

When producing a product and using a piece of music that has copyright protection, certain procedures need to take place.

You will first of all need to get in contact with the record label, who enforce copyright restrictions surrounding work by their artists. Through paying a fee for the piece of music, you have accepted that you are using a piece created by another person and are paying to use someone else's work o benefit yourself.

The UK Copyright Service provides copyright registration for original works by writers, musicians, artists, designers, software providers, authors, companies, organisations and individuals.
(Copyright Service)

The MCPS-PRS Alliance is the home of the world's best songwriters, composers and music publishers.

We represent the world's music - that's 10 million pieces of music - and enable businesses and individuals to access all the music they need for use in their business, product or project in the most effective way.

MCPRS

How much do you pay?

Charges for the use of Commercial music in feature films are negotiable. They are generally set in relation to the budget of the film.
Charges for a film primarily for festival exhibition or for a student film are usually based on affordability.

Royalties
Unlike other forms of intellectual property, music industry royalties have a strong linkage to individuals - composers(score), songwriters (lyrics) and writers of musical plays - in that they own the exclusive copyright to created music and can license it. Recording companies and the performing artists that contribute to the 'sound recording' enjoy a separate set of royalties from the sale of recordings and their licensed digital transmission in whole or in part.

Media Piracy
FACT is an organisation that deals with copyright infringement regarding 'DVDs, films and other forms of broadcasting materials'.