A/69/286 I. Introduction 1. Cultural rights are the rights of each person, individually and in community with others, as well as groups of people, to develop and express their humanity, their worldview and the meanings they assign to their existence and development through, inter alia, values, beliefs, convictions, languages, knowledge and the arts, institutions and ways of life. They also encompass the right to access and enjoy cultural heritage and resources that allow such identification and development processes to take place. 2. Commercial advertising and marketing practices encompass a diversity of tools and methods to sell and promote services or products. Adapting quickly to new technologies, these practices constantly evolve, using both overt and less overt messaging. Recognizing different forms of advertising and clearly distinguishing between commercial advertising and other content is increasingly difficult. The myriad commercial messages people receive on a daily basis is striking, as is the large variety of media used in a systematic and integrated way. 3. Commercial advertising and marketing practices have an increasing impact on the cultural and symbolic landscapes we inhabit and more widely on our cultural diversity. Always aiming to sell, this commercial messaging has the potential to deeply influence the philosophical beliefs of people and their aspirations, as well as cultural values and practices, from food consumption models to burial rituals, including tastes and beauty canons. 4. Innumerable factors influence people’s choices and philosophies. The human rights-based approach supports the free sharing of ideas and world visions. As expressed in United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) instruments, cultural diversity can be protected and promoted only if human rights and fundamental freedom, such as freedom of expression, information and communication, as well as the ability of individuals to choose cultural expressions, are guaranteed. 5. On this premise, the Special Rapporteur, mandated by the Human Rights Council to identify possible obstacles to the promotion and protection of cultural rights, decided to address the potential impact of commercial advertising and marketing practices on cultural rights. Today, the dominance of specific narratives and world views promoted through commercial advertising and marketing in public spaces, the family and private spheres, combined with an increased deployment of techniques that may influence people at a subconscious level, raises particular concerns in terms of freedom of thought, opinion and, more widely, cultural freedom. 6. To elicit the views of States and other stakeholders, the Special Rapporteur disseminated a questionnaire on the impact of advertising and marketing practices on the enjoyment of cultural rights. Responses were received from 27 States, 16 national human rights institutions and 5 other stakeholders. 1 The Special Rapporteur also convened an experts’ meeting on the issue on 28 and 29 October 2013 in New York (see annex). She is grateful to all those who contributed. __________________ 1 14-58963 Available from www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/CulturalRights/Pages/ impactofadvertisingandmarketing.aspx. 3/26