# Advertising Rules



## Brendan Burgess (3 May 2004)

_ From the IFSRA Consumer Codes consultation paper_

Advertising rules
Financial services providers are among the largest advertisers across all advertising media. In many cases, the first time consumers are exposed to the services on offer is through advertising. It is critical then that all advertisements should be fair and truthful and that consumers get a clear indication of what is on offer. Because of this, we intend to include
advertising provisions in the unified code.

When making your submission, please consider the structure of
advertising requirements and whether certain products need more specific rules than others. The rule that consumers are likely to be most familiar with is the one that requires firms to indicate in all advertisements that they are regulated by the Irish Financial Services Regulatory Authority. Do you think this rule makes consumers more aware that they should only deal with a regulated firm or, does it seem that we, the Financial Services Regulator, are endorsing the particular product being advertised?

We would be grateful for your views on the value to consumers of this form of disclosure in advertising, and for any suggestions that would ensure that advertisements do not lead to over optimistic expectations among consumers. 

When commenting on advertising provisions, you
should address not only advertising in the mainstream print or
electronic media, such as newspapers, TV or radio, but also consider whether the codes should apply to other forms of advertising, such as marketing and sponsorship.


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## Brendan Burgess (3 May 2004)

The long meaningless disclaimers at the end of radio and newspaper ads should be done away with and replaced by something more useful and meaningful. What on earth does "Regulated by IFSRA" mean? If they were not regulated by IFSRA, they couldn't advertise! 

All ads and brochures should contain a very prominent "Key conditions" box, although I don't know how this would be implemented on radio or televison. 

A key conditions box would look something like the following:

Maximum return: 8% per annum
Potential loss: 10% of your investment
You can't get your money back before 5 years

The Key Conditions would be longer for more complex products, but that in itself would act as a warning. 

Standard terms which apply to all products should not be mentioned. For example, that DIRT applies.


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