Clearcast

Clearcast is a non-governmental organisation which pre-approves most British television advertising. It originated on 1 January 2008, and took over the responsibilities of the Broadcast Advertising Clearance Centre. Clearcast is now owned by four UK commercial broadcasters: ITV, Channel 4, Sky and Warner Bros. Discovery Clearcast approval is applied both to scripts and to the final commercials. Clearcast has to check that commercials comply with the Broadcast Committee of Advertising Practice (BCAP) code (rules) that applies to television advertising. They also clear video on demand adverts for the major broadcasters against the non-broadcast (CAP) code (rules). These include both good taste and decency criteria, and also a variety of technical and even medical constraints (advertisements may not, for example, contain flashing which would set off attacks of photosensitive epilepsy). The current Chairman of Clearcast is Mark White. Samantha Smith has been announced as Managing Director replacing Chris Mundy in April 2020.

Clearcast is a non-governmental organisation which pre-approves most British television advertising. It originated on 1 January 2008, and took over the responsibilities of the Broadcast Advertising Clearance Centre. Clearcast is now owned by four UK commercial broadcasters: ITV, Channel 4, Sky and Warner Bros. Discovery Clearcast approval is applied both to scripts and to the final commercials. Clearcast has to check that commercials comply with the Broadcast Committee of Advertising Practice (BCAP) code (rules) that applies to television advertising. They also clear video on demand adverts for the major broadcasters against the non-broadcast (CAP) code (rules). These include both good taste and decency criteria, and also a variety of technical and even medical constraints (advertisements may not, for example, contain flashing which would set off attacks of photosensitive epilepsy). The current Chairman of Clearcast is Mark White. Samantha Smith has been announced as Managing Director replacing Chris Mundy in April 2020. ==Incidents== ===Denial of Greenpeace video submitted by Iceland Foods Ltd (2018)=== In 2018, Greenpeace released an animated short, starring a fictional orangutan named Rang-tan ahead of the World Orangutan Day (which took place on 19 August). The short was produced to raise awareness of the environmental impact of the production of palm oil, and the dangers orangutans face as a result. In November 2018, Iceland Foods Ltd submitted a version of the Rang-tan video (which they were to use as their television advertisement for the Christmas season that year) to Clearcast. Earlier in 2018, Iceland Foods has announced that it would remove palm oil from the company's own products by the end of the year, and the company's use of the Greenpeace short was an extension to the earlier effort. The version, as submitted by the supermarket chain, did not contain any reference to Greenpeace. However, Clearcast, highlighting where the video came from, denied the retailer's submission of the animated advertisement. Clearcast's reasoning for denial was that, under Broadcaster Licences and Section 7 of the BCAP Code, as Greenpeace is both an environmental organisation and a lobbying group, Greenpeace should provide enough information to Clearcast to prove that they are not a political advertiser. However, as Greenpeace did not supply such information to Clearcast as of November 2018, Clearcast could not determine whether Greenpeace is a political advertiser or not, and the Rang-tan video was denied. Despite the subsequent criticism and online petitions, Clearcast have defended their decision to deny the Rang-tan video.

Text derived from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1326786418 under CC BY-SA 4.0; modifications have been made.