Understanding Advertising Subjects and Legal Responsibilities
The Subject of Advertisement
The subject of advertisement is a subject of law that has rights and obligations in a legal relationship of advertising. They can be individuals, legal entities, or even the State itself. They should also be distinguished from other persons involved in marketing communication who are not advertising-taxable because they are not bound by contractual relations in advertising, but by other contracts, such as an employment contract. The subject condition is given by the LGP (General Law of Advertising), which determines who is part of the advertising relationship.
Parties Involved in Marketing Communication:
- Issuers: Public and private advertisers. They usually use contracts for advertising or broadcast advertising.
- Perpetrators: For example, agencies.
- Diffusers: Public and private resources, whether informational or solely advertising.
- Recipients: The recipients of advertising.
Other Individuals Not Involved in Marketing Communication:
- Tripartite organizations of advertisers, agencies, and media
- Consumer Associations
- Professional Associations
The LGP provides a more comprehensive and flexible regulation of the subjects than previous legislation. However, its treatment remains unsystematic, as it does not devote a specific section to the rules governing advertising subjects.
The Advertiser
The LGP refers to the advertiser in Article 10. The advertiser is the natural or legal person in whose interest the advertising is made. The law gives the advertiser a prominent role but does not distinguish advertisers based on the volume of their activities, rights, and obligations. Therefore, these rights and obligations are identical for large corporations and individual entrepreneurs. However, this scheme seems designed for advertisers who traditionally performed advertising. The characteristics of its legal system are:
- The advertiser is the first and sole party responsible for the advertising message.
- The advertiser is the owner of the advertising campaign and is entitled to control the entire campaign from its inception. Therefore, they are the only person with the power to stop advertising activity and the obligation to rectify it when necessary.
The advertiser also has the obligation to clearly disclose the advertisements in their ads. That is, the advertisement should be offered to the public so that it is not confused with an informational message or otherwise. However, the law does not require the advertiser to publicize their identity in the advertisement (except on the internet). The advertiser also has the obligation to cease and correct.
Target of Advertising
These are the people the message is directed to and the people reached by the message, according to the LGP. The purpose of this definition is to determine when advertising is unlawful (for example, if the target audience is children). The concept of ‘target’ is broader than that of ‘consumer’. The concept of ‘target’ is broader than ‘consumer’ and they are protected by different routes: the consumer is protected through financial penalties on companies, but the recipient is protected by the sole sanction of rectification and cessation of illegal advertising.
The main issue raised by the recipients in the field of advertising is their consideration as subjects of advertising. In that case, they should have rights and duties arising from the advertising. It is understood that recipients are not subjects of general advertising, given its indeterminacy. Only individuals may be considered subjects of advertising in the case of a natural or legal person that is perfectly fixed or determinable. These individuals acquire the status of rightsholders and advertising obligations, and are particularly affected by the advertisement. In this case, the recipient may make an application for termination or rectification of an advertisement.