pe6o's blog

On March 16th, the Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP) and the Broadcast Committee of Advertising Practice (BCAP) launched an updated Advertising code. Thevpowerful watchdogs have given all the stakeholders and the Advertising Asscociation (AA) actors 6 months to familiarise themselves wit the extensive guidelines "in their commitment to social responsible advertyising", said Andrew Bold, the chairman of CAP and BCAP, adding the new code will "show self-regulation at its best" and will endure all ads continue to be legal, decent, honest and truthful. The key aspects include new easier regulation in TV and Radio broadcasting, better child protection and optimised environmental clarity. The AA welcomes the changes and will begin putting forward steps for full compliance.

Meanwhile, on March 17th, the Advertising Agencies Association (AAA) in Bulgaria and the Bulgarian Association of Advertisers (BAA) have put forward a legislation for better code and practices during competitions for choosing an agency. This mutual agreement will affect both business sides in the developing advertising market, as it will alleviate and clarify the process by which agencies are entering a competition for a client. The chairman of BAA and Managing director of Nestle Bulgaria, Antonis Kantzelis, said that the new code will "gurantee equal rights to the competition, reduce time and costs for all parties and will allow to be produced effective advertising." while Krasimir Gergov, the chairman of AAA, adds that "complying such regulations is a proof that both sides in the market are working successfuly."
This move from the Bulgarian watchdogs are considered as the first major step towards establishing a self-regulation practices in the market met by moderate optimism by PR observants.

With all said, despite the difference in mileage, there is one path set before the Bulgarian and UK ad market towards incorporating the values for better advertising practices between all agencies, advertisiers and the consumers themselves.