INDUSTRY ASSOCIATIONS FIGHT MAGAZINE BIL
By Adnews Staff
Three advertising industry associations have teamed up to oppose Bill C-55, which restricts the range of magazines Canadian advertisers can use to advertise to Canadians. The three organizations are the Association of Canadian Advertisers, the Institute of Canadian Advertising and the Canadian Media Directors Council. The bill bans Canadian companies from advertising in split run publications, which are U.S. magazines containing mainly American content, but carry Canadian ads and are distributed in Canada. The trio believes the bill will place advertisers and agencies at risk because it gives the Federal government powers to investigate publishers, as well as the advertisers and agencies negotiating with them to buy ad space. The bill also restricts the choice of magazines available to advertisers and bans opportunities to Canadian publishers. Without the legislation, publishers could consider publishing ventures that would further diversify the magazine offerings in Canada. Bill C-55 has uncertain standing in international law and may be rejected by the World Trade Organization. "We offered alternatives that could have been helpful to the magazine business - in fact, helpful to all stakeholders - but we were ultimately surprised by the restrictive nature of this legislation," ICA president Rupert Brendon says in a release. "In the final analysis, all advertisers and their agencies were disadvantaged by a process that ignored our interest and request for joint, all-industry consultations." The ACA, ICA and CMDC have requested to appear before the Canadian Heritage Committee following the second reading of Bill C-55.