What are the guidelines that govern whether or not an advertisement is likely to be banned?
There are a number of factors that could lead to an advert being banned. The three main issues that are raised are: Offensive content, Harmful content, and Misleading content.

Offensive adverts can be a whole range of different issues. The main ones are Language (the use of swearwords in an advert) and Religion.
‘Offensive Language’ in an advert to some can be cleaver if done in a subtle way. This could be through the use of a pun, or a double entendre. However some adverts can use the explicit language outright as it is not against the rules of the ASA. The only way an advert can be banned is if the use of the language is inappropriate and can cause wide spread offence, on be something to promote anti-social behaviour in youth. There was a case regarding a clothing line who sent out an email out to their “core demographic” being students and young adults. The slogan ‘SORT YOUR SH!T OUT’ was therefore deemed perfectly fine as it did not breach any of the ASA’s codes.
In the other sectors of Offence, Religion plays a large part. If an advert is making a mockery or is evidently not showing the religion for what it stands for then it will be banned. This includes religious icons, symbols and other connotations being linked with gambling or alcohol. Some ads have not been banned, but warned on the grounds of something being ‘distasteful’.
Other grounds for offence are race, sexuality and ageism. These are all things companies must consider not to exploit or criticise when creating an advert.

Harmful Content can be as simple as the law on advertising HFSS (High Fats, Salt, Sugar) on children’t media. This is a new law that will come into effect 1st July 2017. These HFSS are the key factors in childhood and adulthood obesity and so to reduce the younger population getting influenced by these foods, the ASA have declared that no children’s media may show any foods or drinks that are HFSS. Neither are they allowed to use characters that are on strong influence to children to advertise them, instead to advertise the brand’s healthier option. Finally a company may not show these adverts on media where children make up 25% of the users.
Other Harmful content can be fear factors in advertising. This means that adverts for horror films or exhibits around the country can, or should, only be shown at a particular time. The ASA states of an incident with a Bloody Mary attraction for London Dungeon. It was shown on moving posters in London and featured a still portrait of Queen Mary the first before morphing into a ‘zombie’ with bloody gashes, rotting teeth and red eyes. It was set out to scare, however many people complained about how it was too frightening for their children. This had to be banned as it was causing wide spread tension. This fear also goes for adverts that intend to be scary, but another case that regarded a TV phone advert, did not need to be banned, but instead was requested to be moved to a later time when advertised on TV so that the number of younger views was greatly reduced.

The final key feature of the ASA’s codes is Misleading advertising. Like with the other two this genre branches out to many different areas of advertising.
The first is the use of products that claim to do something, however they have have over enhanced the effects by using post production. Two examples are a hair advert that claimed a hair colour could go from dark red to blond using a packet of hair dye, however the company had in fact reversed the hair colour transformation as it would be impossible to have the hair go from the vibrant red to blonde using the simple hair dye. Another similar case is an advert that was promoting ant-ageing cream to reduce wrinkles on a person’s face. It was then discovered that the person who had apparently been ‘using’ the cream in the advert had had her wrinkles taken out through post production. Both times the ads were banned for mis-selling.
Another Misleading advert is pricing. A quote from the ASA states:
‘The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) recently announced that they’re writing to several carpet and furniture retailers concerning misleading reference pricing practices. This is where a retailer claims the price “was” £500, for example, and is “now” £300. The OFT has found that some retailers are using artificially high prices that exaggerate sales and price cuts, making it difficult for consumers to determine whether they’re getting a good deal.’ This could make a consumer more inclined to buy the product as they believe they are getting a better  deal, but are in fact getting the item most probably for the original price.

How do you feel about the issue of censorship in Advertising? Is it still necessary in the Information Age?
Overall yes, I do feel that there should be guidelines in place for a whole multitude of reasons. I feel that if we do not have  standards and censorship on certain advertising areas – namely those involving teens (who are under age) being sexualised and exploited for the sake of an advert then is could not only prove harmful to that generation, but it can give the company a tainted record of what they are trying to portray.
It is also dangerous to not have standards in imagery for the well fare of people and the portrayal of what certain genders are ‘used for’. There are many adverts treating women as a sexual object, and if the standards and censorship of these images was not in place, then there is a potential for objectification to rise further. It could warp young people’s perspectives of what they are worth and how they should act towards others.
It is also unfair to allow there to be visuals that may prove distressing to people. If you wish to see something such as the effects of war on a country and its people then you watch/ read the news or research it, however having said imagery on walls where millions can see it who may not wish to, it can cause long lasting damage, upset children and adults and cause mass outrage.
Yes we may live in an ‘Information Age’ but we should have to go out of our way to find the information should we want to see or seek it. We should NOT have it forced in front our faces when we do not want it to be – for the safety of ourselves and others.

Information gathered from:
https://www.asa.org.uk/search.html?q=shock+advertising+&issue=B62E671E-81D6-42FD-8BDA1611D194B1D3
https://www.asa.org.uk/news/advertising-and-religion-avoiding-offence.html