Advertising regulator bans seven misleading government newspaper ads

The UK’s advertising regulator has banned seven government newspaper adverts because of their misleading appearance.

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) said the so-called “advertorials”, which appeared in local newspaper in March, were not obviously identifiable as ads.

Advertorials are commercial advertisements which are presented as articles. Under rules, it must be obvious that such articles are paid for and not normal editorial content.

MPs had complained about the placements, which sought to promote the government’s “Levelling up” policy.

The department was headed by Tory MP Michael Gove at the time, who has since returned to the backbenches.

They appeared on 13 March on the websites of the Grimsby Telegraph, Derby Telegraph, Birmingham Mail, Leicester Mercury and Newcastle Chronicle, and on Cornwall Live and Wales Online.

The ASA said that while the ads were labelled, the statements did not reference the government’s levelling up department which had paid for them.

The regulator also said it was also not clear from the accompanying warning text that the following article would also be an advert.

The ASA said the “advertorial” label on the homepage was small and likely to be overlooked by readers.

“We therefore concluded that the ads were not obviously identifiable as marketing communications,” the ASA said.

“The ads must not appear again in their current form. We told the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, and Reach Plc to ensure that all future marketing communications were prominently and clearly identifiable as such.”

The complaints to the ASA were submitted by Labour MPs Lisa Nandy and Alex Norris.

The newspapers’ publisher Reach said readers would have seen the advertorials via a Facebook or Google ad or the newspaper’s homepage, and that all paths to the pages were obviously labelled as marketing communications.

A DLUHC spokesperson said: “This was a small element of an important public information campaign about Levelling Up.

“The advertorial labelling was visible and prominent, carried the HMG logo and was in Reach plc’s house style for sponsored content.

“However, we accept ASA’s conclusions and will ensure these are reflected in any future materials.”