How do we define ‘political‘ TV advertising?
As the furore surrounding the same sex marriage debate reaches fever pitch, Pamela Longstaff, acting CEO of Free TV, discusses how we can define when a TV ad becomes political.
The increasingly charged public and political environment surrounding the same sex marriage postal vote has raised some complexities for advertisers when it comes to what is defined as political matter in television commercials. Those complexities also apply to Free TV when reviewing TV commercials to ensure they comply with the law.
It is important for advertisers to understand that not only do TV commercials need to be checked for content including symbols, icons, hashtags, but the content of any website referred to in the commercial also needs to be checked.
These complexities came into stark relief when Dad4Kids was requested, but declined, to add the required authorisation tag to its recent Father’s Day commercial. A heated public debate ensued. Free TV did not ban or censor the commercial, but requested that the reference to the website be removed or the commercial include an authorisation tag.
