Complaining about rivals: Indifference, cooperation, and competition in the governance of advertising: Self-regulation in advertising

Cluley, Robert

Abstract

What should rivals do when they see competitors breaking agreed rules within systems of self-regulation? This study investigates compliant behaviour among UK advertisers to answer this question empirically. It analyses five years of complaints (N=146,062) and adjudications (N=4,832) published by the self-regulatory body for the UK advertising industry. The majority of firms adopt a strategy of indifference and rarely regulate their rivals. Highly engage firms either adopt an angelic strategy as they use their resources to complain about their rivals; a deviant strategy as they are subject to a large number of complaints; or a predatory strategy as they attack their rivals through advertising regulation. This illustrates a unique form of regulatory capture in which a regulatory system becomes an arena of competition for some actors while continuing as a governance mechanism for others.

Citation

Cluley, R. (2020). Complaining about rivals: Indifference, cooperation, and competition in the governance of advertising: Self-regulation in advertising. Regulation and Governance, 14(2), 316-327. https://doi.org/10.1111/rego.12211

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jul 2, 2018
• Online Publication Date: Aug 28, 2018
• Publication Date: 2020-04
• Deposit Date: Jul 3, 2018
• Publicly Available Date: Aug 29, 2020
• Journal: Regulation & Governance
• Print ISSN: 1748-5983
• Electronic ISSN: 1748-5991
• Publisher: Wiley
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 14
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 316-327
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/rego.12211
• Keywords: Advertising; rivals; competitor; self-regulation
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/944748
• Publisher URL: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/rego.12211
• Additional Information: This is the peer reviewed version of the article, which has been published in final form at https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/rego.12211. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Use of Self-Archived Versions.
• Contract Date: Jul 3, 2018