MEDIA STATEMENT: Out of Home Media South Africa (OHMSA), has responded to the Marketing Association of South Africa’s (MASA’s) proposal in respect of the funding of industry research and the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA).
In an open letter to the Marketing Association of South Africa (MASA), OHMSA executive director Melissa Moore said OHMSA members endorse the importance of the South African Advertising Research Foundation (SAARF) and the role that it plays in growing the Out-of-Home (OOH) industry.
It is the joint responsibility of marketers and media owners to fund SAARF and that this should be done via an add-on levy collection system whereby media owners will reduce their rate cards by half a percent, and add half a percent back onto their invoices as a line item. However the media owner will only be responsible for paying over those funds which are paid over to them by media agencies and participating clients.
Recently, the industry’s research challenges have flared up; marketers and OOH media owners thus agreed that it was their responsibility to support SAARF in its endeavours. OHMSA is one industry body that accepted the collection of research levies under strict and transparent conditions.
Moreover, OHMSA endorses self-regulation of the advertising industry and the role that ASA plays in respect of regulating advertisers’ disputes. Although we do not believe that it is the function of the ASA to regulate the OOH industry which is already heavily regulated, as a gesture of good faith and commitment towards the best interests of the industry at large, we endorse the allocation of an agreed annual contribution to the ASA on condition that the funding requirements of SAARF in respect of OOH research take precedent over that of the ASA.
OHMSA is awaiting a response from MASA.
