European Association of Communications Agencies

This article is part of the Foodspin project of Spinwatch.

The Brussels based European Association of Communications Agencies (EACA) represents advertising and media agencies and associations in Europe. They aim to promote high standards within the advertising industry and to raise "awareness of the contribution of advertising in a free market economy and to encourage close co-operation between agencies, advertisers and media in European advertising bodies". As a result, The EACA is a leading trade association for European commercial communications agencies.

History

EACA, formerly The European Association of Advertising Agencies, was founded in 1959.

Beyond Europe

The EACA is a founding member of a global communications network, in association with industry bodies in the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South America and South Africa. The EACA has also signed co-operation agreements with leading communications organisations such as the World Advertising Research Centre (WARC), MayDream/AdForum and Ballester.

The EACA is also a founder member of the Advertising Education Forum (AEF).

Controversies

The EACA and its members are active in promoting self-regulation in advertising. They claim to work closely with the European Commission in this respect.

This is controversial as the EACA's interests may differ from that of the European Commission and general public, as the EACA represents its members, many of whom are profit-making organisations. One recent controversy in Europe has been the restriction on cigarettes and tobacco advertising. According to the European Commission, "More than half a million people die every year in the European Union as a direct or indirect consequence of smoking. This makes nicotine addiction the most important avoidable cause of disease and premature death."

For this reason, tobacco industry advertising is heavily regulated worldwide. Most countries have some form of regulation restricting the advertising of tobacco and cigarettes. However, the EACA believe this should be self-regulated and countries should not have differing restrictions.

The EACA released this public statement on where they stand on this issue on their website. They said:

The Communications Agency Industry fully recognizes society's right to restrict the sale and manufacture of products with potential harmful effects. However, it also distances itself from the current European debate singling out the existence of advertising of tobacco.

Membership structure

The membership structure is divided into five councils in order to oversee particular areas of interest:

• The International Agencies' Council (IAC) - the 14 largest international agencies in Europe
• National Associations' Council (NAC) - the national agency associations in 29 European markets, including all EU markets
• The Media Agencies' Council (MAC) - 7 international media networks.
• Integrated Marketing Communications Council (IMCC) - 10 national associations of leading sales promotion agencies in Europe
• The Health Communications Council (HCC) - the key players in European Health communications.

Affiliations

As of September 2009, EACA's alliances are listed as:

• Advertising Association (AA)
• Advertising Education Forum (AEF)
• Commercial Television in Europe (ACT)
• European Advertising Standards Alliance (EASA)
• European Brands Association (AIM)
• European Federation of Magazine Publishers (FAEP)
• European Group of Television Advertising (EGTA)
• European Newspaper Publishers' Association (ENPA)
• European Publishers Council (EPC)
• Federation of European Direct Marketing (FEDMA)
• Federation of Outdoor Advertising (FEPE)
• Global Advertising Lawyers Alliance (GALA)
• International Advertising Association (IAA)
• Toy Industries of Europe (TIE)
• World Federation of Advertisers (WFA)