Lewis Silkin's adlaw blog round up of January

CAP censors political free speech
It has been reported this morning on Campaign Live that the Committee of Advertising Practice has advised a media owner to withdraw a poster ad for estate agency Marsh & Parsons featuring a picture of Theresa May with the headline...
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The Buck Stops In Bucks
The Advertising Standards Authority has announced that the pithily named "Buckinghamshire And Surrey Trading Standards" has been appointed to act as the ASA's legal backstop by National Trading Standards. They're known as "B&STS" for short,...
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Lewisham says "no thanks" to HFSS advertising
In the wake of the ban on advertising High in Fat, Salt and Sugar (HFSS) foods announced by TfL back in November 2018 (and discussed here) - but which takes effect from 5 February 2019 - Lewisham Borough Council have been awarded a grant of...
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Key “take away" points from the recent BIG MAC revocation decision
Supermacs, a leading fast food chain in Ireland, have been in a long running trade mark dispute with McDonalds. As part of this dispute, Supermacs filed an invalidity action against one of McDonald's EU Trade Marks for BIG MAC. During the...
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Gillette gives Jacob Rees-Mogg a close shave with the 21st Century
Say what you like about Jacob Rees-Mogg, but he always looks clean shaven. No metrosexual 5 o'clock shadow for the honourable member for the 18th century. The member for North East Somerset never leaves the house (neither the town house, nor the...
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Martin Lewis and Facebook settle “scam ads” defamation claim
Martin Lewis and Facebook have settled the moneysavingexpert.com founder’s defamation claim over so-called “scam ads”. Mr Lewis started UK High Court proceedings in April 2018, or what he called “a campaigning defamation lawsuit”. As a campaigner...
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CMA #ad enough
Full disclosure: My colleagues  Adam Glass, Brinsley Dresden and I have acted for two of the celebrity influencers who were involved in this CMA investigation. [N.B. clear and prominent disclosure, at the start of this post.....] The CMA...
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SUPER LEGIBLE!
BCAP publishes stricter guidance on use of Supers in TV ads. While you were grabbing Black Friday bargains and stocking up on mince pies, you would be forgiven for missing the BCAP's announcement on 29 November regarding the use of ‘supers’...
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Minority report - IPA diversity statistics published
The IPA has published its annual diversity research. Despite a decline in participating agencies, the statistics show an increased percentage of women in senior roles and ethnic diversity at its highest recorded level. The fact that the...
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Your Army Needs You
Love it, hate it, offended by it... the British Army's latest recruitment campaign has attracted much controversy in an attempt to appeal to Millennials and Gen Z. This campaign comes hot on the rugged, muddy heels of revelations that the British...
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Faux fur? Mink again!
Yesterday, the ASA upheld complaints against Boohoo.com and Zacharia Jewellers. Both retailers were found to be promoting and selling ‘faux fur’ products which contained real fur fibres. In case you’re wondering, fur farming was officially banned...
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Making a right royal mess of price claims
No matter how grand or trivial the event, you can pretty much guarantee there’ll be a stamp, medal, coin or other collectible trinket to commemorate it – and if it has anything to do with the Royal Family, then you can count on it. So it was with...
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