George Bogle CBE
Media executive and founder of the Advertising
Standards Board of Finance, George Bogle,
studied graphic design at Bradford College of Art & Crafts in the 1930s.
Following his graduation in 1937 George
became a graphic designer for the publisher
Iliffe. His career was interrupted by distinguished
wartime service in the army. He was mentioned
in despatches for his actions whilst the major in
charge of a specialised armoured brigade. He
resumed his career at Iliffe after the war and a
series of promotions saw him become MD of the
Iliffe Marketing Company and Joint MD of the
Kelly-Iliffe Group.
By 1963 George was Director of Corporate
Affairs at IPC. Two years later he was national
representative in the Federation Internationale
de la Presse Periodique, the world federation of
publishing associations, later serving as President.
He was also President of the Periodical Publishers
Association from 1968 to 1972. From 1970 when
IPC was taken over by Reed Publishing, George
became Director of Government and Industry
Affairs for Reed Holdings.
It was in this role that he confronted the serious
prospect of taxation and legislative control of
advertising in 1974, following a Labour Party
Green Paper. Secretary of State for Prices and
Consumer Protection, Shirley Williams, warned the
advertising industry to put its house in order or
be strictly controlled. George met the challenge
by founding the Advertising Standards Board of
Finance (Asbof). This charged a 0.1% levy on all
forms of advertising which funded the Advertising
Standards Authority, allowing it to adjudicate
independently. This self regulation allowed the
public to complain without cost funded by the
advertisers and enabled the advertising industry
to avoid government intervention. The system
George devised has worked effectively since its
founding in 1974 and yet it was only possible
because he convinced everyone in the industry to
participate.
He was awarded the CBE in 1977 and retired from
Reed in 1981. He was Chairman of Asbof until
1990.
George died in October 2005.
His son Nigel
followed his father’s footsteps in advertising and
is Group Chairman of award winning advertising
agency Bartle Bogle Hegarty. Nigel kindly supplied
the photograph of his father plus the work he
completed while a student at Bradford.