Change for our Profession

In October 2001, the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Communications, an organ of the National Assembly, convened public hearings into the pace of transformation in the advertising and marketing value chain. After finding that the pace of transformation in the value chain was unacceptably slow, the Portfolio Committee on Communications directed government, through Government Communications (GCIS) and the Department of Communications, to facilitate a consultative process with all stakeholders to find a common blueprint for the transformation of the industry. This mandate resulted in the first joint undertaking by all stakeholders to commit to a unified view and common approach. This was codified as "The Values Statement of the Marketing and Communication Industry". It was endorsed by all stakeholders, adopted and signed on 23 April 2003.

This Values Statement reproduced, is the foundation on which the Marketing, Advertising and Communication (MAC) Charter is based.

The ACA and its member agencies are committed to transforming our profession for the better. Subscribing to the professions’s MAC Charter and demonstrating a commitment to transformation is mandatory for ACA members. The Preamble to the MAC Charter best explains our commitment to transformation – it reads:

"We, members of the broader marketing, advertising, public relations, communication and research industry as well as related sectors, recognise the critical role our industry, fulfils in South Africa. We are mindful of the impact our industry has on millions of our people across all walks of South African life, therefore we accept the responsibility consequent thereto. We further acknowledge that marketing and advertising communication is the livewire of a free market-based economy. It is an intrusive form of communication to which over 40 million South Africans are subjected every day of their lives. For such a small industry, its power to influence South Africans is disproportionate to its size, hence the need to make it a truly South African industry is imperative."