ICAS announces winners of Global Awards

On 15 April 2019, during its Annual Meeting in Paris, France, the International Council for Advertising Self-Regulation (ICAS) announced the winners of its first ICAS Global Awards. France, Australia, Canada and Spain were honored for effective advertising self-regulation. The objective of the ICAS Awards is to reward initiatives that contribute to responsible marketing practices through self-regulatory standards.

Four categories of Awards were open to the ICAS Self-Regulatory Organization network members. All entries were reviewed, and winners selected by an international independent jury of self-regulatory experts, chaired by Ms Carla Michelotti, member of the Board of the International Advertising Association (IAA) and retired Chief Legal, Government and Corporate Affairs Officer of Leo Burnett Worldwide.

The winners of the first ever ICAS Awards are:

• For Best Awareness-Raising Initiative: ARPP (Autorité de régulation professionnelle de la publicité), France, for its impactful communication campaign on guidelines for social media influencers;
• For Thought-Leadership: Ad Standards Australia, for a study done in partnership with Deloitte, assessing the benefits of a self-regulatory advertising complaints handling system;
• For Best Sectoral Initiative: Ad Standards Canada, for its Influencer Marketing Disclosure Guidelines;
• Special Prize: AUTOCONTROL, Spain, for its services around data protection issues.

The ICAS Awards Jury also gave three entries special recognition due to their valuable and inspirational promotion of effective self-regulatory practices. This special recognition was given to:

• The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) of New Zealand for its Code Consolidation project, completed in 2018;
• CONAR Mexico, for its study of consumer perceptions and motivations regarding advertising communications;
• The Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI), for its Guidelines for Celebrities in Advertising released in April 2017.

ICAS applauds all winners and thanks all participants in the ICAS Awards. All the initiatives rewarded contribute to the promotion of effective and meaningful self-regulation, and the encouragement of ethical and responsible marketing and advertising practices. ICAS encourages organizations worldwide to seek inspiration from the winners and to support the development and use of efficient, effective and innovative self-regulatory standards and solutions.

View pictures of the ICAS Awards Ceremony