Advertising industry codes
Community and regulation
Public space is just that: public space.
Out of Home (OOH) advertising exists within the public space as an essential piece of communications infrastructure, broadcasting to a large audience. Always working towards a sustainable future, the OOH industry embraces responsible self-regulation. The OMA assists the industry in achieving this, endorsing the display of advertising that adheres to 18 advertising industry codes of practice.
The OMA Code of Ethics outlines that members will only display advertising that adheres to OMA Policies and the following advertising codes of practice:
- Australian Association of National Advertisers (AANA) Code of Ethics
- AANA Environmental Claims in Advertising and Marketing Code
- AANA Code for Advertising and Marketing Communications for Children
- AANA Food and Beverages Advertising and Marketing Communications Code
- AANA Wagering Advertising & Marketing Communication Code
- The ABAC Responsible Alcohol Marketing Code
- Australian Food and Grocery Council Quick Service Restaurant Initiative
- The Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries’ Voluntary Code of Practice for Motor Vehicle Advertising
- The Therapeutic Goods Advertising Code
- The Weight Management Industry Code of Practice
These codes can also be found on the Ad Standards website on the 'Codes and Initiatives' page.
What does successful self-regulation mean?
Annual OOH code breaches have reduced by 75% since 2011 and currently represent less than 1% of all advertising campaigns. With more than 30,000 OOH campaigns run every year, these figures demonstrate our commitment to meeting and exceeding community standards.
How does it work?
The OMA drives successful self-regulation by ensuring community and government expectations are delivered through our policies and ongoing member training.
We work alongside Ad Standards, the Australian Association of National Advertisers, The Communications Council and the Alcohol Beverages Advertising Code (ABAC) scheme to ensure that members display advertising that both meets Australian standards and complies with self-regulatory codes.
To ensure our members uphold the industry gold standard in advertising content, we run a series of education and advertising pre-vetting initiatives:
- A national program of Content Training for members and media agencies
- A Copy Advice Service based on our Advertising Content Policy
- A Concept Advisory Service for advertisers and creative agencies to use at the early stages of campaign development