BCAP and CAP codes
In practice, for a UK buyer
The paragraph above is the neutral answer. This is the part a vendor glossary leaves out.
Three provisions do most of the work in this category. Objective and superlative claims need documentary substantiation. Medicines, medical devices and health claims require evidence and are frequently blocked outright. And rules on specific categories — alcohol, gambling, financial products — constrain both copy and placement. AdBuyMCP's pre-check names the rule alongside each finding rather than returning a bare pass or fail.
What this one connects to
Most confusion in media buying comes from two adjacent terms being used interchangeably, so these are the neighbours worth reading next.
Clearcast
The body that pre-approves television advertising in the UK on behalf of the major broadcasters, checking copy against the broadcast advertising code before it can air. Approval is required, not advisory.
Cinema Advertising Association (CAA)
The body that clears advertising for UK cinema, issuing a certificate and an age rating that determines which films an advert may be shown alongside. Separate from broadcast clearance and required before print traffic.
Cinema advertising
Advertising shown on cinema screens before a film, sold by audience packs, film genre and venue rather than by individual viewer. Delivered as a Digital Cinema Package and subject to its own age-rating clearance separate from broadcast clearance.
More on compliance and clearance
UK data protection and UK advertising clearance: what has to be true before an ad runs.
45 minutes. Bring a real brief and we compile it live. You describe one audience and watch it compile into seven targeting specifications, each with the score for how much of the definition survived.
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