From cultural autonomy to advertising autonomy : the rise and development of European advertising self-regulation

Few critics have questioned the contention - championed by such international organizations as the newly formed European Advertising Standards Alliance (EASA) - that unfettered advertising is necessary for the development of a free and thriving world economy. In an effort to promote freer exchange of advertising worldwide, many organizations are working to coordinate European advertising self-regulatory codes and practice. However, the literature on the detrimental impact of cultural synchronization and on the media's, particularly advertising's, role in transporting culture raises concerns about how standardizing European advertising self-regulation might influence those cultural values that threaten capitalist values.

The literature on cultural synchronization, particularly Jhally's (1998) theories, suggests that standardized advertising self-regulation may erode cultural autonomy, leading to worldwide consumerism that displaces all other cultural values. In an attempt to better understand the role of European advertising self-regulation, qualitative interviews were conducted with representative from the organizations leading the coordination effort: European Advertising Standards Alliance, European Association of Advertising Agencies, European Advertising Tripartite, and World Federation of Advertisers. In addition, newsletters, speeches, memos and other documents produced by these organizations were examined; all of this in order to gain insight into the balancing act, within and among the organizations charged with shaping European advertising self-regulation, between maintaining cultural autonomy and advocating for advertising autonomy.

European unification was begun to help Member States compete on the world level with such economic forces as the US and Japan. Despite the fact that advertising industry representatives speak often about the need to preserve cultural diversity within and throughout the European Union, this research suggests that cultural autonomy is, for the advertising industry, an argument of convenience rather than conviction. The advertising industry sees measures to harmonize advertising self-regulation as a first step toward additional European legislation, which would necessarily strip the industry of its autonomy. As a shield against the threat of harmonization leading to regulation, advertising representatives argue that self-regulation's flexibility better protects cultural autonomy.

A look deeper into the data at self-regulatory and European Court of Justice decisions in cross-border advertising cases further indicates that unification necessarily places market values above traditional cultural values. So despite the advertising industry's discourse on the value of diversity, its actions and the motivation behind this rhetoric suggest that culture cannot stand in the way of progress, which, as Jhally (1998) warns is too often defined in monetary terms. With Britain, France, and Ireland setting the standards, European advertising self-regulation is moving, in fact, toward a more uniform system. Like any hegemony, this system favors those at the helm.