Marketing & Advertising

Marketing and Advertising

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Background

Freedom of commercial speech is a fundamental principle of free markets and should be applied equally to the marketing of all legal products.

With such freedom comes obligations. These are spelled out in ICC Codes and Guidelines based on the principle that all advertisements must be decent, honest and truthful, and adopted and enforced by national and regional advertising self-regulatory bodies.

Through a combination of best practices and determined enforcement, effective self-regulation is the system that can best inspire consumer confidence in advertising and ensure that business can continue to inform its consumers.

Objectives
Further the interests of U.S. business with respect to international regulation of marketing, advertising and consumer issues; promote self-regulation as an alternative to government intervention; provide a forum to discuss and call attention to international trade barriers relating to marketing, advertising and distribution.

Current Priorities

· Promote the importance and benefits of self-regulation both nationally and globally, through programs in key emerging markets such as Mexico, Brazil, Russia, India, and China.

Photo: Deborah Platt Majoras, Vice President and General Counsel for Procter & Gamble, gives keynote address at ICC Roundtable on Marketing and Self-regulation, 12 January 2009.

Chair
George Velez

Global Process Leader

General Motors Corporation

Vice Chair

Carla Michelotti

Executive Vice President, General Counsel

Leo Burnett Worldwide, Inc.

Staff Contacts
Christopher G. Martin

Manager, Marketing & Advertising Policy, ICT, Banking and Emerging Markets

(212) 703-5061 or cgmartin@uscib.org

Justine Bareford

Program Assistant

(212) 703-5062 or jbareford@uscib.org

· Ensure that legislative and regulatory initiatives in the U.S. and elsewhere do not interfere with business’ ability to effectively provide information on available choices to consumers regarding legal products and services.

· Identify, examine, and promote member interests across the full scope of issues related to advertising, ranging from product placement to environmental claims.

· Monitor ongoing developments in UN agencies, including WHO, in the area of marketing and advertising, especially with regard to food and beverages, and work with members to devise strategies for engaging on these issues, including through ICC and IOE.

Recent Accomplishments

· Provided U.S. business input that stressed the continued importance of self-regulation as a guiding principle during a regulatory review of Australia’s Children’s Television Standards. See ICC Submission on the Australian Children’s Television Standards Review.

· Represented USCIB member interests in ongoing discussions around advertising with respect to health and nutrition claims at the FAO/WHO Codex Committee on Food Labeling meetings. See ICC comments on Codex Proposed Draft Definition of Advertising.

· Provided U.S. business views on the International Obesity Task Force’s Sydney Principles. See ICC comments on the Draft Sydney Principles.