The Global Advertising Lawyers Alliance (GALA) hosted its first seminar on African soil in Cape Town with member firm Adams & Adams on 17 October 2016. A leading worldwide network of advertising lawyers, GALA regularly brings together representatives from the marketing, legal and retail sectors to encourage discussion about the often turbulent field of advertising law.
GALA seminars attract delegates and speakers from across the globe, and this one included legal experts from the United Kingdom, the United States, France, Ireland, Sweden, Uganda, Hungary, Dubai and the Netherlands. The network comprises firms representing more than 90 countries and encourages global marketing law collaboration. Although laws regarding advertising differ from country to country, the seminar aimed to promote awareness among marketing and advertising executives of important factors when engaging in social and other media by using case studies related to their respective fields and locations.
“I thoroughly enjoyed listening to the international speakers representing the US, the Netherlands and the UK exploring topical advertising law issues in their regions, using real examples,” Flowstar Quathar Jacobs said of the international aspect of the event.
Opening the seminar, GALA global president Jeffrey Greenbaum said the alliance acts as a resource to legal firms and advertising agencies to maximise collaboration and to help marketers, agencies and firms stay up to date with advertising law developments worldwide.
Greenbaum, a managing partner with Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz in New York, expanded on the complex issues of social media and advertising by using the US as a case study. “Online and social communication from brands or companies should be understood as advertising,” Greenbaum said. “Although these limits haven’t been tested yet, companies need to realise that as advertisers they are responsible for all claims they make on these platforms.” He also emphasised the need for full disclosure relating to endorsements, incentivised actions and the nature of reviews. “Consumers need to be made aware that they are reading an advertisement and you can manage that through clear language and easily accessible disclosures.”
Hoogenraad & Haak law firm in Amsterdam partner Daniël Haije briefly examined advertising lessons from Holland and the European Union. One of Haije’s tips was that marketers or advertisers should “never assume that courts have a sense of humour”, a point worthwhile remembering when using wordplay or humour to promote a post. Haije cited examples of satire used for advertising that ended up being banned throughout the EU.
Brinsley Dresden, a partner with Lewis Silkin in London, also touched on the topic of humour by highlighting the issue of sexualisation and gender stereotyping in advertising. Dresden emphasised the importance of social responsibility in advertising by specifying what is being promoted, how the message will come across, who will be targeted and the effects these factors may have on the public.
Danie Strachan, a Pretoria-based partner with Adams & Adams, gave a South African perspective on the legal pitfalls of promotional competitions. An often-used means of fuelling engagement or driving sales, promotional competitions can be an easy way for a brand to create buzz quickly. Strachan, however, showed that competitions should be carefully managed as they are considered a form of gambling in South Africa. He highlighted the need for clear wording, disclosures and terms and conditions. He also stressed the difference between luck- or skill-based competitions, with luck-based competitions requiring the presence of an auditor when choosing a winner and skills-based competitions requiring a managed judging process.
Charne le Roux, a partner with Adams & Adams in Cape Town, closed the seminar by looking at the South African Advertising Authority and the issues facing statutory entities in the local marketing industry.
Social media and online marketing are still relatively new media and, as the GALA event emphasised, we really haven’t tested the limits of either advertising or law in this domain.