Last week, Ad Standards held its 2024 Annual General Meeting where our members elected the Board of Directors for the 2024-25 term. 

Judy Davey (pictured), Vice President, Media Policy & Marketing Capabilities, of the Association of Canadian Advertisers (ACA), was newly elected to the Board. 

The following are the leaders from industry, representing advertisers, agencies, and media organizations, along with public representatives, elected to the board.

Executive Committee

• Bev Kirshenblatt (Chair), Executive Director, Corporate & Regulatory Affairs, CBC/Radio-Canada
• Catherine Bate (President), CEO, Ad Standards
• Serge Rancourt (Vice-Chair), Co-Founder and CEO, No Fixed Address Inc.
• Shelley Samel (Corporate Secretary), Chief Legal & Chief Policy Officer, Ad Standards
• Marina Seidl, Senior Legal Counsel, Interac Corp.
• Richard Wong (Treasurer), Public Representative

Directors

• Rupa Bahri, Business Unit General Manager, Haleon
• Peggy Barnwell, Public Representative
• Sonia Carreno, President, IAB Canada
• Judy Davey, Vice President, Media Policy & Marketing Capabilities, Association of Canadian Advertisers
• Kimberly Eberwine, General Counsel & Secretary, Canada, Proctor & Gamble Inc.
• Kevin Johnson, CEO, GroupM Canada
• Scott Knox, President & CEO, Institute of Canadian Agencies (ICA)
• Steve McGregor, President, Pattison Outdoor Advertising
• Andrew Saunders, President & CEO, The Globe and Mail
• Dominique Villeneuve, President and CEO, Association of Creative Communications Agencies (A2C)

Ad Standards released its 9^th annual compliance report for the AdChoices Accountability Program for 2023. The report highlights progress made by companies committed to the Digital Advertising Alliance of Canada (DAAC) Self-Regulatory Principles for Online Behavioural Advertising (the Principles). 

The Principles were updated in October 2022 and became the basis for compliance for the first time beginning in 2023. Along with the updated Principles, there was a new requirement in 2023 for Participants to self-attest to their adherence to several of the Principles that were not previously audited by Ad Standards. 

Ad Standards works at arms-length from the DAAC to independently monitor participants’ compliance with the Principles and reports on the compliance of all participants annually.

In April 2022, Ontario launched its regulatory framework for online gambling and sports betting.  Ad Standards tracks the consumer complaints it receives related to any type of gambling advertisements, and recently released an overview of these gambling ad complaints.

The complaints summary highlights the quantity of complaints, the nature of the complaints, and a year-over-year comparison between complaints lodged in May 2023- April 24 and the prior 12-month period.

Some highlights from the overview:

• Ninety-three percent (93%) of 2023-24 complaints were related to advertisements on television.

• Sixty-nine percent (69%) of 2023-24 complaints related to three specific ads alleged to offend the standards of public decency under Clause 14(d) of the Canadian Code of Advertising Standards – stereotyping towards a group of people. 

• In 2022-23, 91% of complaints were related to the activity of advertising gambling, and were therefore not valid complaints under the Code. Comparatively, in 2023-24, only 46% of complaints were related to the activity itself, while 54% were related to specific content of gambling advertisements.

Ruta has been working at Ad Standards for over 20 years. She started her career at Ad Standards as a Clearance Services Analyst, ultimately moving into the role of Senior Analyst. Five years ago she was promoted to her current position as Director, Clearance Services (Health Products & Cosmetic Sections).

Ruta is a graduate of the Pharmacy (BScPhm) program at the University of Toronto and is a licensed pharmacist with multiple decades of pharmacy experience.

She manages a team of analysts with backgrounds in biology, pharmacology, economics & policy of health sciences, regulatory affairs and compliance — a team that is diverse in their expertise and perspectives. It is this very diversity that Ruta believes is her team’s biggest strength when evaluating the wide variety of messages that are submitted for preclearance review.

With extensive knowledge of current legislation, Health Canada policies and guidance documents, Ruta finds satisfaction in navigating the challenges of a role that sits at the intersection between industry and government. 

“Balancing creativity with messaging that adheres to regulatory requirements is both a challenge and an opportunity. It is the reason why we have multiple analysts look at each submission. My team and I are dedicated to working collaboratively with submitters so that as much of their original vision remains intact, while also ensuring the consumer-directed messages are compliant. It is very fulfilling to see a campaign come to fruition after working to help a client navigate the complexities of the Canadian regulatory framework.”

Submitters are encouraged to contact Ruta should they have any questions related to health product or cosmetics clearance.

Each year, Ad Standards offers two scholarships for post-secondary students. Students must be enrolled in an English or French undergraduate advertising or marketing program, display a commitment to volunteerism, a record of academic excellence, and an interest in pursuing a career in advertising or marketing.

The 2024 Ad Standards Scholarship recipients are Olivia Angling (top), a Queen’s Smith School of Business student entering her fourth year, and Zoé Bureau (bottom), a second-year student in the Marketing Communications program at Université du Québec à Montreal (UQAM). 

In 2022, an incredible 48,200 consumer complaints were handled by advertising self-regulatory organizations (SROs) that are member organizations of the International Council for Advertising Self-Regulation (ICAS). 

ICAS has been collecting information like the above on existing self-regulatory systems around the world since 2017. The sixth edition of its Global Factbook of Advertising Self-Regulatory Organizations highlights key facts and figures about advertising SROs and provides a high-level comparison between different markets around the world, including Canada.

Ad Standards is proud to be a founding member of ICAS, and Catherine Bate, our President & CEO, sits on its Executive Committee.

L to R: Catherine Bate, President & CEO, Ad Standards, Sibylle Stanciu-Loeckx, Director, ICAS, Shelley Samel, Chief Legal and Chief Privacy Officer, Ad Standards

Catherine Bate and Judy Davey present at the Policy Roundtable

Over 750 marketers from 40 countries descended on Toronto for the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA) Global Marketer Week (GMW) from May 14 to 17. Executives from Ad Standards had the opportunity to catch up with colleagues from near and far and participate at various events held over the course of this week.

Several Ad Standards staff attended the kick-off reception, hosted by the Association of Canadian Advertisers, where they had the opportunity to connect with local and international marketing industry professionals. 

The following day, Ad Standards President & CEO, Catherine Bate, spoke alongside Judy Davey from the Association of Canadian Advertisers, about Canada’s Code for the Responsible Advertising of Food and Beverage Products to Children at the Policy Roundtable, part of several Day 2 events. 

The week’s marquee event, the Global Marketer Conference, was packed full of insights from international marketing leaders on trending topics such as AI, sustainability, the role of the CMO, and more.