Advertising is a message a business or organisation places in front of people to promote something it offers, usually in space it pays for or controls. In the UK, the advertising rules cover paid ads in almost every medium plus selling claims on a company's own website and social accounts, but not editorial content.
Here's my plain definition: advertising is any message a business places to persuade people to buy, try, join or think better of something it offers, in a space it pays for or controls. That covers a billboard, a search ad, a promoted post and the product claims on your own homepage. It leaves out most news coverage, an independent review and a friend's recommendation.
That's a working definition, not a legal one. Interestingly, the UK's own rulebook doesn't try to write one either.
A rulebook that lists rather than defines
The UK's non-broadcast advertising rules sit in the CAP Code, applied by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA). The ASA's general guidance on its remit says the CAP Code doesn't define advertising; instead it lists the categories of communication it applies to, with supplementary definitions and exclusions. It says its remit advice is indicative, not exhaustive, because detailing every type of marketing would be next to impossible.
That's a sensible approach, and a useful lesson for anyone trying to pin the word down. Advertising keeps inventing new formats. A list of principles survives that better than a tidy definition does.
What the CAP Code covers
The Scope of the Code sets out what's covered. In summary:
- Ads in newspapers, magazines, brochures, leaflets, mailings, emails, text messages, catalogues and other printed or electronic material
- Posters and other promotional media in public places
- Cinema, video, DVD and Blu-ray ads
- Online ads in paid-for space, including banners, pop-ups, online video ads and paid search listings, plus viral ads, in-game ads and advergames in display ads
- Marketing databases holding consumers' personal information, and promotions in non-broadcast media
- Advertorials
- Marketing on a company's own website, or other non-paid-for space online under its control, that's directly connected with supplying goods, services, opportunities or gifts
Two of the Code's definitions are worth knowing. An advertorial is an ad feature, announcement or promotion whose content is controlled by the marketer, not the publisher, and which runs in exchange for payment or another reciprocal arrangement. A viral ad is a marketing message designed to stimulate significant circulation by recipients, usually seeded by the marketer with a request to pass it on.
The ASA's news piece Think you know what the CAP Code applies to? adds the outdoor detail: the Code covers third-party ads in paid-for space in ambient media, including taxis and buses, petrol pumps, bus tickets, ATMs, projections onto buildings, supermarket trolleys, the reverse of till receipts and beer mats. Our guide to out-of-home advertising formats covers how those work in practice.
What sits outside the Code
The Scope of the Code is just as clear about exclusions. Among other things, it doesn't apply to:
- Broadcast TV and radio ads, which follow the separate BCAP Code
- Editorial content, such as media articles and books
- Press releases and other PR material not covered elsewhere in the Code
- Private classified ads
- Private correspondence and live oral communications, including phone calls
- Website content such as editorial, news, corporate reports and natural search listings
- Political ads as the Code defines them, and works of art
The Code also says that if it isn't clear whether something falls within its remit, the ASA is more likely to apply it when the material appears in paid-for space. Paying for the space pushes a message towards being treated as an ad.
Where advertising stops and content marketing starts
This is the part most business owners care about. If you publish a helpful article on your blog, is that advertising? Under the UK rules, editorial content is excluded, but claims on your own website that are directly connected with selling your goods or services are covered. So a how-to guide sits on the editorial side, while the product page with your claims about results is advertising.
In practice, I'd treat any part of a page that's selling, such as a claim about what your product does or a push to buy, as advertising, even when it sits inside a helpful article. Hold those lines to ad standards and you won't go far wrong.
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Paid placement changes things too. Content you pay a publisher to run, where you control what it says, fits the Code's definition of an advertorial. Our guide to native advertising on blogs looks at that format in more detail.
The same logic applies to people talking about you online. An unprompted recommendation isn't an ad; a rewarded one generally has to be labelled as one. Our page on organic and rewarded recommendations covers that line.
Families of advertising worth knowing
Using the Code's categories as a map, most advertising falls into a handful of families:
| Family | Examples | Typical job |
|---|---|---|
| Print and direct | Leaflets, mailings, catalogues, emails, texts | Reach a known audience with an offer |
| Outdoor and ambient | Billboards, bus sides, trolleys, till receipts | Visibility where people already are |
| Online paid | Search ads, banners, video ads, promoted posts | Targeted reach, often measured by clicks |
| Advertorial and influencer | Paid features, labelled creator posts | Borrowed trust from a publisher or creator |
| Owned claims | Product pages, your own social posts | Turn interest into a sale |
Online paid ads add one more layer: targeting. Many platforms choose which ad you see based on what they know about you. Our explainer on how personalized ads work covers that side, including the controls you have.
If you're paying for the space, or you control the space and you're selling, treat it as advertising and hold it to advertising standards. Editorial is the exception, not the default.
Quick answers
What is advertising in simple terms?
A message a business places to promote what it offers, in space it pays for or controls. Ads in paid space and selling claims on your own website both count.
Is a company's own website advertising?
Partly. The UK's CAP Code covers claims on a company's own website and social accounts when they're directly connected with selling goods or services, but not editorial content such as news or articles.
Are TV ads covered by the CAP Code?
No. TV and radio ads fall under the separate BCAP Code. The CAP Code covers non-broadcast advertising, which includes cinema ads.
Is a press release advertising?
The CAP Code excludes press releases and other PR material, unless they fall into one of the categories it does cover.
