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How Sidekicks Work

This guide applies to both Media Magic Verify and iClear — the information and sidekicks work the same across both platforms.

What is a sidekick?

A sidekick is a compliance checker that reviews your advertising content against a specific regulatory framework. When you submit an asset (a video, PDF, or image) to Media Magic Verify (or iClear), each active sidekick in your workspace runs through it independently, checking against its framework's rules and flagging any potential issues for you to review.

Think of a sidekick as a dedicated compliance expert for one regulatory standard. You can have multiple sidekicks active at the same time if your content needs to be assessed against different frameworks.

The sidekicks we offer

CAP Sidekick

The CAP sidekick checks your content against the UK Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP) Code. This is the standard rulebook for non-broadcast advertising in the UK — TV ads, radio, print, digital, outdoor, and more.

The CAP Code covers:

  • Misleading or unsubstantiated claims

  • Comparisons with competitors

  • Testimonials and endorsements

  • Pricing and availability

  • Health and safety claims

  • Environmental claims

  • And much more

Framework link: ASA Advertising Codes

LHF (Less Healthy Foods) Sidekick

The LHF sidekick is a focused version of the CAP rules that specifically flags claims about food and drink products that fall under the "less healthy" category. This includes rules around:

  • Nutritional claims (e.g., "low fat," "high in protein")

  • Health-related claims on certain food products

  • Targeting of children with restricted foods

  • Misleading portion guidance

Use this sidekick if you're advertising food or drink products and want a tighter focus on the nutritional and health-related aspects of CAP compliance.

Current Affairs Sidekick

The Current Affairs sidekick searches the internet in real-time to flag any breaking news, regulatory announcements, or public statements that might be relevant to your asset or the claims you're making.

For example, if you're advertising a food product and there's just been a news story about a safety recall, or if you're making a claim about a company and they've just issued a contradictory statement, the Current Affairs sidekick will surface that as a heads-up. This helps you catch timing issues or contextual conflicts before your ad goes live.

How sidekicks evaluate your asset

When you submit an asset:

  1. Processing — the platform breaks down your content (video frames, transcripts, text, images, detected objects)

  2. Evaluation — each active sidekick runs its rules against the processed asset

  3. Issues — any violations are flagged as issues with a severity level (Critical, Major, Minor, or Info) and a suggested resolution

  4. Your review — you decide whether each issue is a genuine compliance problem, a false positive, or something to resolve before launch

Sidekick versions

Sidekicks don't just run "the latest rules" — they run a specific, dated version. This means:

  • Consistency: An asset you reviewed last week runs against the same rules as one you review today, even if the rulebook was updated in between

  • Auditability: If someone disputes an issue, we can show exactly which version of the rules produced it

  • Control: If a new version causes unexpected issues, you can stay on the previous version while we investigate

By default, your workspace gets new sidekick versions automatically. If you prefer more control, you can switch to manual adoption — you'll get a notification when a new version is available and can choose when to switch over.

Managing your sidekicks

Workspace admins can:

  • Turn sidekicks on or off

  • Choose automatic or manual version adoption

  • See what changed between versions before updating

Workspace members see the issues flagged by your active sidekicks and can act on them, but don't configure the sidekicks themselves.

Choosing which sidekicks to use

  • Non-broadcast ads in the UK? Use the CAP sidekick to check against the UK advertising standards

  • Food or drink? Consider adding the LHF sidekick for extra focus on nutritional and health claims

  • Want to stay ahead of news? Activate Current Affairs to flag real-time context

You can run multiple sidekicks on the same asset. They work independently and surface issues together, giving you a full compliance picture.

Get the full rules

To understand what each framework covers in detail, check the official regulatory code:

Still have questions?

If you're unsure which sidekicks are active in your workspace, or you want to change which ones are running, ask your workspace admin. If you need help interpreting an issue flagged by a sidekick, we're here to help — just get in touch.