As some of you may be aware, the National Advertising Review Council (NARC) recently announced a board expansion to include representatives from the Electronic Retailing Association (ERA), the Direct Marketing Association (DMA) and the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB). These associations now join the flagship members of the NARC Board, namely: the Association of National Advertisers (ANA), the American Association of Advertising Agencies (AAAA), the American Advertising Federation (AAF) and the Council of Better Business Bureaus (CBBB).
The expansion of the board is an unprecedented step in the history of advertising self-regulation and represents the board’s first move in this direction since NARC was founded in 1971. Last year I had the good fortune of being part of a NARC Strategic Planning Committee along with ERA’s Bill McClellan, NARC President Lee Peeler, his predecessor Jim Guthrie, among others, and we were able to persuade the NARC Board of the significance of ERA’s voice in the advertising industry and its importance in being “ahead of the curve†in identifying the pivotal issues facing the industry. The NARC Board sets policies and procedures for advertising industry self-regulation, and ERA’s well deserved addition recognizes the association’s longstanding support of self-regulation and the expertise that they bring to addressing the challenges of self-regulation.
As if I haven’t used my allowed allotment of acronyms already, this may be a great time to reacquaint everyone with where the Electronic Retailing Self-Regulation Program (ERSP) comes from and what we do. In 1971 ANA, AAAA, AAF formed an alliance with the CBBB to create an independent self-regulatory body, NARC. To ensure the credibility and impartiality of the self-regulation system, the advertising review process was set up to operate under the administrative purview of the CBBB. In 2004, the ERA and NARC partnered to form ERSP, and the recent expansion of the board to include Ms. Coons further solidifies this relationship.
ERSP’s mission is to enhance consumer confidence in electronic retailing by providing a quick and effective mechanism for resolving inquiries regarding the truthfulness and accuracy of claims in direct response advertising. ERSP inquiries originate from competitor challenges, consumer complaints and ERSP’s ongoing monitoring program. To date, companies working with ERSP have modified or discontinued nearly two hundred advertisements in an effort to foster more accurate product information to consumers. ERSP is a recognized example of how industry self-regulation can improve industry standards and the consumer experience, a benefit for all parties involved.
By expanding the NARC Board to include ERA, its members are now going to be ensured an advocate within the advertising community at large, and will be part of the discussion on the future of advertising regulation. So with the heartiest of welcomes, we applaud ERA’s appointment to the NARC Board, which means that this organization now literally has a seat at the table and its rightful place amongst the advertising industry at large.
Peter Marinello works for the National Advertising Review Council and spearheads ERSP.
WASHINGTON—On the cusp of the 
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