The Code of Practice is the result of several months of work and consultation. The IAB South Africa, Gail Schimmel, CEO of The Advertising Regulatory Board, Terry Murphy of the Marketing Mix and a collective of industry bodies and stakeholders applied their diverse experience to the creation of the draft Advertising Code of Practice Social Media Guidelines.

The document formally opened for a defined consultation period at the Social Media Landscape Briefings on Tuesday, 16 October and Thursday, 18 October in Cape Town and Johannesburg respectively, with a date for formal adoption thereafter.

Paula Hulley, CEO of the IAB South Africa, says, "The fundamental objective of the code is to protect the consumer by encouraging brands to exercise ethical constraints on all paid social media communications."

"As always, we, as an industry body, felt passionate about working on this as an industry collective. I encourage all our members to carefully consider and comment on this groundbreaking document so it represents an authoritative consensus," Hulley adds. 

The draft Advertising Code of Practice Social Media Guidelines is an industry first and has been devised with the input of a diverse group of industry stakeholders.

Schimmel adds, "The ASA always championed the rights of the consumer, and our newly launched Advertising Regulatory Board will continue to fulfil the same mandate, with the exciting addition of an appendix aimed specifically at social media."

"This code of conduct is a logical and important next step in protecting consumers and promoting ethical conduct on such a dominant medium of communication," says Schimmel. 

"We are all unified in the common goal to reach our market in fresh, relevant and meaningful ways," says Terry Murphy of The Marketing Mix. "This is the logical next step in the evolution of ethical advertising in South Africa.”

According to the IAB South Africa, armed with this document, the marketing industry will be empowered to communicate authentically with consumers and thrive in the digital economy, building sustainable online brands in the process. It also aims to support the creation of a transparent and trustworthy digital supply chain. 

The IAB South Africa says its next step is a continued invitation to invite the industry to comment and share their feedback aligned with the timeline below, where its committee (made up of industry members) will review, amend and consolidate the final code for implementation mid-February 2019.

All stakeholders have until Thursday, 24 January 2019 to submit their feedback and recommendations. Following this, the social code committee will consolidate and implement all relevant feedback.

On Thursday, 7 February 2019, the Advertising Code of Practice Social Media Guidelines will be finalised, with the view of it being in place and managed by the Advertising Regulation Bureau by mid-February.

For more information, visit www.iabsa.net. You can also follow the IAB South Africa on Facebook or on Twitter.