The regional advertising industry has changed dramatically over the past decade. We have moved from adapting global advertising to creating indigenous, award-winning content based on regional insight.
The past few years have also featured the proliferation of print, radio and television media channels, and the digital transformation.
In the past 11 years the Gulf’s advertising spending has grown by 233 per cent and the region’s advertising market last year was estimated, by Northwestern University in Qatar to be worth US$5.5 billion in net spending. As shown through the size and stature of Dubai’s Media City, the Gulf’s advertising industry has become a major driver of growth.
But this only tells half the story. Advertising has a remarkable impact on every single one of us – it shapes attitudes and influences behaviours of millions of consumers. With this power comes the responsibility of creating ethical advertising that does not mislead, harm or offend consumers.
Ethical advertising builds consumer trust in brands, improving sales and strengthening market share; while helping to maintain a level playing field that is important for fair competition. Responsible advertising benefits everyone – consumers, society and advertisers.
Today we have reached a point where we need to work together as an industry to promote ethical best practices. Many believe that this can be best achieved through self-regulation, which is proven to work internationally.
Self-regulation complements and builds on existing government regulations. It increases public trust and combats negative perceptions and empowers consumers through engaging them, and listening too.
This belief in responsible advertising spurred advertisers, agencies and media to establish the Advertising Business Group (ABG) to advocate for responsible advertising in the GCC via self-regulation.
Our approach will be guided by the International Chamber of Commerce’s code of conduct that operates on the principles that all advertising should be legal, decent, honest and truthful; prepared with a due sense of social responsibility; conform to the principles of fair competition; and not impair public confidence in advertising.
While the ABG comprises many prominent names in the marketing and advertising industry – founding members include Mars, PepsiCo, Procter & Gamble, Facebook, Google, MCN, Choueiri Group, Nestlé, Abbott Laboratories, Visa, L’Oréal, Beiersdorf, Omnicom Media Group, Emirates NBD and Unilever – we are clear about what must be done to self-regulate and promote ethical advertising. Our first goal will be to monitor, maintain, promote and uphold fair, sound and ethical principles and practices of advertising as they relate to the industry and the region today.
Our second goal is to foster and promote cooperation among companies involved in advertising and marketing by providing a platform for discussion on inter-company complaints. We will offer consumers a voice, an opportunity to raise concerns about the advertising that they see and are targeted by. Once consumers raise an issue with us through our website, we will investigate on their behalf and advise as to whether the advertising in question upholds or breaks our ethical principles.
I am proud of the work that the region’s advertising industry has produced; its growth is a reflection of the quality of its work. But to quote an adage: people forget the good and remember the bad. We need to remind ourselves of the ABG’s four tenets: we must be truthful and honest to consumers and competitors; we must respect public decency; we should act with a sense of social responsibility, and we must conform to the principles of fair competition.
We will work to make every ad a responsible one, and we hope for all the support as we set off on this journey of self-regulation.
Sanjiv Kakkar is the chairman of the Advertising Business Group and executive vice president at Unilever for North Africa Middle East, Turkey, Russia, Ukraine and Belarus.
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