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

· Provide U.S. input into the revision of the ICC’s Marketing and Advertising Code, the baseline guidance document that informs business practice and self-regulatory programs around the world.

· Promote the importance and benefits of self-regulation both nationally and globally, through programs in key emerging markets and regions, such as Latin America and Asia.

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
Brent Sanders

Associate General Counsel

Microsoft 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

Jessica Berti

Program Assistant

jberti@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 online behavioral advertising to environmental claims.

· Monitor ongoing developments in regional forums like the EU and global agencies like the UN in the area of marketing and advertising, for example with regard to food and beverages, and work with members to devise strategies for engaging on these issues.

Recent Accomplishments

· Developed and launched in January 2010 the ICC Framework for Responsible Environmental Marketing Communications, a tool for businesses and guide for self-regulatory organizations to improve advertising and avoid misleading green claims.

· Represented USCIB member interests in discussions around green marketing claims within the OECD’s Committee on Consumer Policy.

· Provided U.S. input into the Implementation Guide for ICC Codes, to facilitate the practical use and compliance with the ICC Marketing Codes.

· Participated 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 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.