The Republic of the Philippines is a country of focus for the Self-Regulation initiative of Global Actions on Harmful Drinking.
Self-Regulation: Beverage alcohol companies are collaborating with the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA) and ICAP to strengthen cross-industry self-regulation. In countries where self-regulation efforts are already underway but could benefit from further development or refinement, we are working with fellow stakeholders to ensure that cross-industry self-regulation systems operate effectively, reflect international standards of good practice, and are recognized publicly.
Background: Ad content and conduct regulation has traditionally been handled by the Advertising Board of the Philippines (AdBoard), established in 1973. In 2008, responsibility for content regulation was handed over to the Ad Standards Council (ASC), a tripartite organization composed of the Philippine Association of National Advertisers (PANA), the 4As (the ad agencies) and Kapisanan ng Brodkasters ng Pilipinas (KBP), the organization representing TV and radio broadcasters. ASC is the local self-regulatory organization responsible for monitoring and regulating ad content as well as settling disputes regarding such content.
PANA and ASC are working towards strengthening the long-standing self-regulatory system that exists in the Philippines.
Awareness of the self-regulatory system is being raised across the Philippines with an awareness-raising campaign in print and online media, television and radio. The project will draw on this campaign to drive up usage of the system over time, encouraging more consumers to lodge advertising complaints with ASC. With the steady growth of digital advertising, ASC is also defining how its existing advertising rules and guidelines will be interpreted and applied in the digital space. Finally, ASC is in the process of extending the scope of its existing pre-clearance system to include beverage alcohol ads in print and online.
We will report progress regularly, so please visit this page again soon for ongoing updates on our efforts.