This report has been superseded: see our list of good practice guides for more recent publications

301
These guidelines represent a code of good practice to apply to the multilateral communication of information by a local authority; whether the method of communication might be called ‘advertising’ or ‘publicity’ or some other name.

302
The communication may take the form of:

• printed matter – such as pamphlets, booklets, press statements, newsletters, newspapers and posters;
• audio-visual matter – such as films and video tapes;
• press, radio, cinema and television advertisements/commercials/sponsored features; and
• material in electronic form – such as on an Internet web site or distributed by e-mail.

303
We make no distinction between advertising or publicity material produced using only internal resources of the local authority, and material produced with the aid of external resources. In the latter case, the people employed should be informed of the authority’s policy on appropriate principles and standards, and be required to comply with the policy.

304
For the purpose of these guidelines, advertising and publicity material does not generally include statutory documents such as the annual plan or the annual report – the form and content of which is largely determined by statutory requirements. Nevertheless, we would expect:

• the narrative parts of such documents to meet the qualitative standards described in paragraphs 501-516; and
• the guidelines in Section 7 on members’ personal views to be observed.