AA defends the positive social role of advertising

The Advertising Association is planning to launch a high-profile publicity campaign to promote the “positive” role of advertising, as it reassesses its role in the wake of an increasing threat of restrictions on advertising.

The initiative to protect “advertising freedoms” is being led by the AA chief executive, Baroness Peta Buscombe, and chairman Mark Lund, the chief executive of Delaney Lund Knox Warren.

The campaign will focus on advertising as an industry that is good for the economy and which promotes product choice to consumers.

Buscombe says that the campaign is one of many projects being considered by the AA, which is also in the process of restructuring the organisation. The details of the restructure are yet to be revealed.

Lund says: “As an organisation, we will be more proactive in making the case for advertising, rather than just reacting to bad news. We are also reviewing whether the AA in its current state is fit for the purpose.”

Buscombe, who is also a Conservative member of the House of Lords, says that the advertising industry has long championed “other people’s businesses”, but has lacked the courage and the confidence to defend its own case. She says: “For too long, advertising has been a quick-fix solution to more complex problems like obesity, alcohol abuse and commercialisation of children. More research needs to be done on this issue.”

She adds that the project is “very exciting” as the campaign will highlight self-regulation and show the industry as responsible.