The interviewer wants to check that you know the Philippines has a self-regulatory ad body that enforces truthfulness and fairness, and that ignoring it can cause brand damage and wasted ad spend.
Describe the ASC as an industry self-regulatory body that reviews ads before they can run. Explain that advertisers must submit materials with evidence for factual claims, and if a claim is unsubstantiated, the ad must be revised or will not be approved.
Start by walking through the actual submission steps as you would in practice. Say that before any ad goes live, you prepare the creative materials along with a completed ASC copy platform, which is essentially their form for declaring the claims you are making. You attach supporting evidence for every factual, comparative, or absolute statement, such as surveys, lab tests, or official certifications, and then you file these through the ASC's online portal or their physical office, depending on what your agency or in-house team normally uses. Be clear that the ASC reviews for both content and substantiation, so you should expect a turnaround time and be ready to answer follow-up questions from their reviewers. Then address the failure scenario directly. Explain that if a claim is found to be unsubstantiated, the ASC will not clear the ad, which means you cannot legally run it in any Philippine media. Your next move is to pull the material, revise the claim to something you can actually prove, or remove it entirely, then resubmit for approval. Mention that in a local setting, this can mean real wasted budget and scheduling headaches, especially in BPO-adjacent industries where campaigns are timed to global launches, so you always build ASC review time into your production timeline and keep your evidence files organized from day one.
Some misinformed candidates think, 'Hindi naman strict ang ASC, we can just say 'number one' basta we feel it's true.' In reality, all comparative or absolute claims need documentary evidence, or the ad will not be allowed to run.
Situation
In my previous role as a brand manager for a consumer goods company, we developed a TV commercial claiming our detergent removed 100% of stains.
Task
I needed to ensure the ad could air legally, so I was responsible for the ASC submission and substantiation of the claim.
Action
I prepared the ad materials and a formal substantiation document that included lab test reports from an accredited third party, showing the stain-removal rate. I submitted these to the ASC for pre-screening. The ASC reviewers asked for additional test data on one stain type, so we provided updated documentation. After a two-week review, the ad was approved.
Result
The commercial launched on schedule without any regulatory issues, and we avoided the risk of having the ad pulled for misleading claims.
Always back up advertising claims with solid, verifiable proof before submitting to the ASC.
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