Recommend pageZAW accuses EU of jeopardising free market economy
The European parliament has demanded the dispossession of 20 per cent of advertising space for environmental messages and corresponding efforts such as radio spots, television commercials and online ads. In addition, a state-led advertising codex is supposed to determine guidelines in regards to advertising content. For example, sports elements and images of driving dynamics are to be prohibited.
According to the ZAW, it is not possible to rule out the risk that the automobile industry will draw back from the increasingly bureaucratic advertising in traditional markets and develop other communication mediums. It is estimated that approximately 1.5 Billion Euro of advertising revenue alone are at risk. The ZAW stresses that the economic function of advertising is increasingly being marginalised in favour of socio-political propaganda. This strategy is argued to erode the dynamic market economy. The ZAW emphasises that citizens are already informed on a comprehensive level. A re-education program through Brussels is consumer-hostile, a ZAW representative argues.
The parliaments’ demands for censoring as well as the EU commissions’ approval are a blow to the freedom of opinion, which the advertising industry was originally granted. Apparently, the majority of the EU parliament and bureaucrats in Brussels don’t believe in the competence of citizens when confronted with advertisements for automobiles, food and beverages.
