AFA TO FEDERAL/STATE GOVERNMENTS: AD BANS WILL DAMPEN ECONOMIC RECOVERY
With the Australian economy on the verge of going into recession, thisis not the time to dampen economic activity by imposing advertisingbans on the business community, according to the country’s peakmarketing agency body, the Advertising Federation of Australia (AFA).
“Economistsand businesses the world over recognise that to prosper through thetough times you need to keep advertising – and maintain the ability toadvertise your products. And yet now, on the verge of a recession, weare confronted by the Federal Government’s Preventative HealthTaskforce (PHT) proposing ad bans to combat obesity and the overconsumption of alcohol and calls for similar bans by two StateGovernments,” said Mark Champion, Executive Director of the AFA(pictured).
“It’s all very well for the Federal Government to committo spend close to 20 billion dollars to stimulate the economy, but itmakes no sense to then go and restrict the ability of companies toadvertise and market products – especially at a time like this,“ hesaid.
“And we now know that banning ads in an attempt to controlobesity and binge drinking don’t work and actually damage the economy.”
Research recently conducted by Frontier Economics (and co-funded bythe AFA) has exposed the failure of ad bans internationally. Thatresearch also highlights that advertising prohibitions drivediscounting of products and inhibit product reformulation andinnovation – defeating the intent of such bans.
The FederalGovernment’s PHT report calls for a ban on the advertising of certainfoods from early morning to mid evening on television, and draconianrestrictions of similar advertising in other media.
In addition,the PHT report recommends advertising bans on alcohol products, as wellas banning alcohol discounting and sponsorship.
As well as theproposals from the PHT, the South Australia Government is proposingbans on what foods can be advertised during children’s programmes ontelevision and the Queensland Government is proposing similarmeasures.
“The industry believes Government should be trying tostimulate marketing and advertising as part of its rolling package ofmeasures, rather than dampening it, “ said Mr Champion.
“Agencies,and I’m sure marketers, would value the opportunity to sit down withState or Federal Governments to work through the options on howbusinesses can be encouraged to market their way out of a downturninstead of being forced to batten down the hatches. And we’ve got somegood ideas on how this can be achieved,” he said.
The Australianmarketing and media industry is estimated to generate more than 30billion dollars per annum of the country’s GDP.
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