Speaking at the Voice of the Listener and Viewer’s ‘Fresh Visions from Familiar Faces - sustaining quality content into the digital age’ conference today, ITV’s Executive Chairman, Michael Grade reportedly said -

“I’m not opposed to regulation. What concerns me is that [when] any special interest group pops up and gets a campaign going and makes a fuss, successive governments’ knee-jerk reaction is we should be seen to be doing something, ‘I know, let’s impose some advertising restrictions, that will shut them up…It doesn’t have any effect.

“Does anybody honestly believe if there was no advertising there’d be no obesity? It completely underestimates the relationship between viewers and advertisers…It patronises the consumer in a way that completely misunderstands the role of advertising…It’s about time the advertising industry and whoever is involved in that side of things made our voices heard. Banning advertising and highly regulating advertising is not the answer to the nation’s problems.”

“It’s classic political thinking - let’s not give them the oxygen of publicity. What did it change? It changed nothing. Why didn’t the government ban Sinn Fein? Don’t get the media to do their work for them…that’s what they are trying to do with advertising, [saying] ‘I know, we can tinker with advertising.”

Massive hat tip to the ever trusty MediaGuardian for actually going to the conference and reporting such choice comments.