If you are a business owner, having a clear advertising campaign is a crucial strategy to gain traction for your business and bring in new clients. However, if you do it incorrectly, your ads can be problematic for your business. This article will look at the importance of advertising clearance and understand essential advertising requirements in Australia.
Learn From Others’ Mistakes
Here is a real-life example to understand how important it is to ensure your advertising is correct.
Most of us would probably realise that advertising a Chinese product as “AUSSIE BEER” is not a good idea. However, it is not always that clear, so it is good to know the rules.
General Advertising Rules and Tips
The Australian Consumer Law (ACL) outlines the main advertising rules for most businesses. The ACL is a national law containing important consumer protections and business obligations. There are also advertising bodies in Australia which have produced a Code of Ethics and Code of Practice that set out appropriate industry standards to comply with. However, it is prudent to consider industry-specific regulations as well, such as the Therapeutic Goods Advertising Code. This is important, particularly if you supply therapeutic goods to consumers.
The basic rule for advertising is that your promotional materials should not be misleading or deceptive. Of course, the best test here is often common sense, but here are some basic principles to keep in mind.
1. Back it Up
You should be able to support the claims and representations in your advertising materials. For example, if your ad says you sell a full range of products from a particular brand, you should make sure you stock all of the products. If your ad says your services are available on weekends, you should not close business on Sundays. However, there is no expectation to substantiate claims that are obviously exaggerations or mere “puffery”. For example, most consumers will understand that a statement such as “the best burgers in town” is an obvious exaggeration.
2. Be Clear
It is always best to be clear in your advertising materials. Consumers are more likely to be misled if something is ambiguous. Being clear also means being careful in choosing where to put certain words and pictures in your ad and deciding the parts to emphasise. For instance, if you have essential disclaimers in your advertising materials, you should make sure they are prominent enough that a consumer is likely to notice and read them.
3. What if You are Unsure?
If something about your ad does not feel right, that is a good sign that you might need to change it.
Your business’ brand represents your values, identity and reputation. Learn how to create a successful brand and protect it.
Social Media
In our online-intensive landscape, it is normal to promote your adverts on social media platforms. However, as a business owner, you are responsible for comments and posts on your social media platforms that are false or likely to mislead. It is insufficient to claim ignorance of the misleading comment. The regulators consider it the responsibility of businesses to have monitoring and review processes in place to prevent this from occurring.
Some measures you can take include:
- having a set of community guidelines and displaying it clearly on your online platforms;
- allowing comments to be posted after you have reviewed and approved the comments;
- reviewing, responding and removing any posts (including reviews) that may be false or misleading; and
- blocking any user who breaks your community guidelines.
What Should You Do Next?
To start with, you should consider the nature of the products you will be advertising and check to see if there are any additional legal requirements you will need to meet. In addition, if you plan to use influencers for advertising your products, you must meet further obligations.
Key Takeaways
Advertising is a core component of every business. While advertising is an essential and necessary part of your business, it is important to understand the legal requirements before paying for an advertising campaign. Your advertising campaign should bring in clients, not fines.
If you require advice on what advertising requirements apply to you, you can seek advice from our experienced contract lawyers, who can assist as part of our LegalVision membership. For a low monthly fee, you will have unlimited access to lawyers to answer your questions and draft and review your documents. Call us today on 1300 544 755 or visit our membership page.
Frequently Asked Questions
The basic rule for advertising is not to engage in misleading or deceptive conduct or to make false or misleading representations about the product.
Yes. You are responsible as the business owner to ensure that comments posted on any of your online platforms are not misleading or false. It is crucial to have a reviewing and monitoring process for comments posted to your platform.
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