By Lorraine Conway 22 September 2021 Advertising to children Summary 1 Regulation of advertising 2 Scope of the ASA’s remit 3 British advertising Codes 4 ASA monitoring and compliance 5 ASA as an adjudicator 6 Protecting children 7 Specific issues 8 In focus: advertising and childhood obesity commonslibrary.parliament.uk Number 8198 Advertising to children Image Credits Cover page image copyright: Watching tv / image cropped. Licensed under CC0 Creative Commons – no copyright required. Disclaimer The Commons Library does not intend the information in our research publications and briefings to address the specific circumstances of any particular individual. We have published it to support the work of MPs. You should not rely upon it as legal or professional advice, or as a substitute for it. We do not accept any liability whatsoever for any errors, omissions or misstatements contained herein. 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If you have general questions about the work of the House of Commons email [email protected]. 2 Commons Library Research Briefing, 22 September 2021 Advertising to children Contents Summary 5 1 Regulation of advertising 7 1.1 Framework 7 1.2 Funding 7 2 Scope of the ASA’s remit 9 2.1 Advertisements covered by the ASA 9 2.2 Advertisements not covered by ASA 10 3 British advertising Codes 13 3.1 Special rules for sensitive products 13 3.2 Special rules for children 14 Non-broadcast advertising 14 Broadcast advertising 16 4 ASA monitoring and compliance 18 5 ASA as an adjudicator 19 5.1 Adjudications 19 5.2 Sanctions: non-broadcast advertisements 19 5.3 Sanctions: broadcast advertisements 21 5.4 Challenging an ASA adjudication 21 6 Protecting children 23 6.1 ASA’s position 23 6.2 Children’s recognition of advertising 25 7 Specific issues 27 7.1 Advertisements close to schools, play areas etc. 27 7.2 Sexualised imagery 27 7.3 Fear and distress 28 3 Commons Library Research Briefing, 22 September 2021 Advertising to children 7.4 Child safety 28 7.5 Age-restricted products 29 7.6 Betting and gaming 32 7.7 Advertising of HFSS foods and childhood obesity 34 8 In focus: advertising and childhood obesity 36 8.1 Debate on impact of HFSS foods advertising & past initiatives 36 8.2 Review of the evidence 38 8.3 Childhood obesity: a plan for action (June 2018) 40 8.4 First consultation (March 2019): television watershed on adverts for HFSS foods 42 8.5 Tackling obesity strategy (July 2020) 43 8.6 Second consultation (November 2020): total online HFSS advertising restriction 44 Policy rationale 44 8.7 Government response to 2019 & 2020 consultations & new legislation 47 8.8 Views of stakeholders 49 8.9 Situation in Scotland 53 4 Commons Library Research Briefing, 22 September 2021 Advertising to children Summary Advertisements and promotions are a feature of modern life. In the UK, the content of advertising, sales promotions and direct marketing across all media, including marketing on websites, is self-regulated by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA). It does this by enforcing the Advertising Codes; there are separate codes for non-broadcast and broadcast advertisements. All adverts are expected to be “legal, decent, honest and truthful”. The Advertising Codes contain strict rules to protect children (and young people) from potentially misleading, harmful, or offensive material. This is because children are less likely to be able to understand and process commercial messages in advertisements than adults. Children are also often more likely to be adversely affected by “inappropriate, scary or offensive images”. There are, for example, advertising rules to: • prohibit advertisements from depicting children in hazardous situations or encouraging them to engage in dangerous behaviour; and • prevent advertisements from undermining parental authority or placing unfair pressure on children to buy products. The advertising rules are regularly reviewed and updated by the ASA. The ASA is independent of both the Government and the advertising industry. It is recognised by the Government and other regulators as the body to deal with complaints about advertising. Its remit includes acting on and investigating complaints about advertisements as well as proactively monitoring and acting against “misleading, harmful or offensive” advertisements, sales promotions, and direct marketing. If a complaint about an advertisement is upheld, the advertiser must withdraw or amend the advertisement and not use the advertising approach again. If the advertiser does not comply, the ASA has other sanctions at its disposal. All ASA adjudications are published. There has been an ongoing debate about the effect of advertising on children. In recent years the focus has shifted to the impact of adverts for foods high in fat, salt or sugar (HFSS) on levels of childhood obesity. Various campaign groups and health bodies are calling for tighter restrictions, particularly in respect of television and online advertising. The Government consulted in March 2019 and in the autumn of 2020 on proposals to extend restrictions on the advertising of HFSS products. The aim being to reduce the amount of HFSS advertising children are exposed to. The Government published its response to both consultations on 24 June 2021. It announced that new advertising restrictions would be implemented as part of its ongoing commitment to tackle childhood obesity. Specifically, a 9pm 5 Commons Library Research Briefing, 22 September 2021 Advertising to children watershed for advertisements of HFSS foods, applicable to television and UK on-demand programmes. In addition, a prohibition on paid-for advertising of HFSS foods online. Both restrictions are legislated for in the Health and Care Bill, which was introduced in the House of Commons on 6 July 2021. This briefing paper looks at the current advertising regulatory system in the UK, with specific reference to advertising to children. It draws heavily on the information provided by the ASA on its website. This paper also considers some specific issues relating to advertising and children, for example, the use of sexualised imagery, advertising of age restricted products, betting and gaming, and advertisements placed close to schools or play areas. The final sections of this paper consider the issue of HFSS foods advertising and childhood obesity. 6 Commons Library Research Briefing, 22 September 2021 Advertising to children 1 Regulation of advertising 1.1 Framework The UK advertising regulatory system is a mixture of: • self-regulation for non-broadcast advertising and • co-regulation for broadcast advertising The ASA is the UK’s single independent advertising regulator in all mediums. It • All adverts must be does this by enforcing the Advertising Codes; there are separate codes for “legal, decent, non-broadcast and broadcast advertisements. honest and truthful” The Codes are designed to ensure that all advertising is “legal, decent, honest and truthful”. However, they also include prescriptive rules for sensitive products such as medicines and alcohol, as well as specific rules for advertising to children. The Advertising Codes are written and maintained by two industry bodies: • The Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP) • The CAP is responsible for the UK Code of Non-Broadcast Advertising, Sales Promotion and Direct Marketing, known as the “CAP Code”. • The Broadcast Committee of Advertising Practice (BCAP) • The BCAP is responsible for the “UK Code of Broadcast Advertising”, known as the “BCAP Code”. ASA is independent of On 1 March 2011, the online remit of the ASA was extended significantly to both Government and cover marketing communications on companies’ own websites and in other industry. third-party space under their control, such as social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook. The CAP Code applies in full to this new space (see below). 1.2 Funding This regulatory system is funded entirely by the advertising industry by a levy on advertising spend. According to the ASA website, the levy is currently set at 0.1% on the cost of buying advertising space and 0.2% on some direct mail. This is collected at ‘arm’s length’ on behalf of CAP, BCAP and the ASA by two bodies: the Advertising Standards Board of Finance and the Broadcast 7 Commons Library Research Briefing, 22 September 2021 Advertising to children Advertising Standards Board of Finance. The ASA is therefore able to act independently of both Government and industry. 8 Commons Library Research Briefing, 22 September 2021 Advertising to children 2 Scope of the ASA’s remit 2.1 Advertisements covered by the ASA The ASA will deal