Groupon has been forced to promise the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) that it will change its business practices, after an OFT investigation

Coca-Cola Great Britain has welcomed the launch of a new Experiential Marketing Code of Conduct in the UK, and will be requiring all its marketing agencies to abide by the new rules.

The Advertising Standards Authority and the Committee of Advertising Practice have both launched new logos to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the UK’s self-regulatory system.

The Advertising Standards Authority has banned a Paddy Power promotion featuring Luiz Suarez, on the grounds that the ad was socially irresponsible because Suarez was under 25.

The ASA has found the Phones 4u ‘little girl’ adverts “unlikely to cause offence or be duly distressing” after receiving 601 complaints. They also considered Phones 4u to have “responsibly scheduled” its ‘Missing our deals will haunt you’ adverts.

The Advertising Standards Authority has upheld another two complaints against MyCityDeal Ltd – which trades as Groupon – taking the total for 2011 to 15.

The Advertising Standards Authority has upheld another two complaints against MyCityDeal Ltd – which trades as Groupon – taking the total for 2011 to 13.

The Advertising Standards Authority has partly upheld a complaint against a prize competition for Cott Beverages’ RC Cola, offering the chance to win a family holiday for four to Orlando, Florida.

The ASA have upheld complaints against two deal of the day coupon emails from Groupon, one of which Groupon have said appeared in error after a technical problem.

A complaint which challenged whether advertised savings for flights from a bmibaby promotional e-mail were genuine has been upheld by the ASA.

The ASA has yet again upheld a complaint against Groupon, this time for exaggerating the advertised value on an offer for eyelash extensions.

A six-month independent review into the commercialisation and sexualisation of childhood, which reports today, calls on businesses and media to play their part in ending the drift towards an increasingly sexualised ‘wallpaper’ that surrounds children.

The Walkers Rainy Days campaign, where consumers could win £10 if they correctly predicted where and when in the country it would rain, has been slammed by the Advertising Standards Authority after its terms and conditions were changed mid-promotion.

The High Court has struck a blow on behalf of promoters and agencies by granting an injunction against a company that sent out a mailing claiming recipients had won a prize. The defendants, Heaven Communications, sent a mailing in the name of URA Winner to at least 350,000 consumers, which the Office of Fair Trading considered misleading.

Leading representatives from the coupon sector are hoping to work together with retailers to tackle misredemption.Charles D’Oyly (pictured), managing director of the UK’s biggest coupon handler Valassis, and Clive Mishon, chairman of the Institute of Sales Promotion, are working with MP John Greenway to set up a cross-industry group.

New rules have been introduced by regulators Ofcom and PhonepayPlus to ensure that phone-based competitions and prize promotions on TV are run properly. The brand reputations of broadcasters such as the BBC, GMTV and Channel 4 (pictured) were harmed by scandals over phone-in competitions last year.

Promoters need to be more aware of their obligations to run responsible campaigns when it comes to online marketing and young people, according to the Byron Review report published today (March 27). The investigation into the internet and video games was led by Dr Tanya Byron (pictured).

With complaints about promotions in newspapers and magazines on the rise, Mark Ludmon looks at the risk from not complying with the rules of the game

Complaints about advertising and other marketing campaigns reached an all-time high last year, according to the Advertising Standards Authority’s annual report, published today (April 30). Its chairman, Lord Smith (pictured), said the internet posed a particular challenge.

Media regulator Ofcom has today (May 8) fined ITV a record £5,675,000 because of “misconduct” relating to phone-in competitions on shows such as Ant & Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway (pictured).