Reg Bailey

“ Whilst a range of educational initiatives exist to support children in schools (DCSF/DCMS, 2009; Advertising Association, 2011) , there is a need to evaluate further the effectiveness of child media and commercial literacy initiatives both inside and outside schools. There is also a need for an increased focus on improving parents' awareness and understanding of newer marketing techniques and advertising regulation as a whole, enabling them with to support their children better in developing their emotional resilience to commercial pressures. ”

“ In Norway, the government has implemented a number of recommendations designed to reduce the commercial pressure on young people, and to equip children and their parents with the skills to help them understand commercial information and to withstand commercial pressures. As in Quebec, there is a ban on advertising to children under 13 years of age 'by wire or over the air' and advertising is not permitted in schools. ”

“ We are heartened that the industry is already taking a number of steps to ensure advertising and marketing to children is within acceptable standards. We welcome, for example, the introduction of the Children's Ethical Communications Kit website (www.check.uk.com) by the Advertising Association which is designed to help advertisers and marketers understand their responsibilities towards children and how to comply with the CAP codes. We would urge anyone involved in advertising to children to use the website. ”

“ Another area of concern for parents is peer-to-peer and brand ambassador marketing, through which young people can receive a payment or payment in kind for promoting a particular product or brand to their friends. ”

“ Prohibiting the employment of children as brand ambassadors and in peer-to-peer marketing. The Committee ofAdvertising Practice and other advertising and marketing bodies should urgently explore whether, as many parents believe, the advertising self—regulatory codes should prohibit the employment of children under the age of 16 as brand ambassadors or in peer-to-peer marketing – where people are paid, or paid in kind, to promote products, brands or services. ACTION: Committee of Advertising Practice, the Advertising Association and relevant regulators ”

“ Parent, Call for Evidence response
"The advertisers say they don't target children, but they do."
Parents, Review qualitative research
"Parents do say no. They say no, you can't stay up late. No, you can't eat pudding before your main course. No, you can't have a dog. Setting boundaries is what parents do. It's tough sometimes... and I need to ask if the advertising industry are comfortable spending millions of pounds targeting children direct and then saying it's down to mum and dad to stand up to them?"
Parent, quoted in Keep, 2004 ”

“ As well as the advertising and marketing messages that children receive for products intended for them, children are also exposed to a far greater volume of advertising and marketing not aimed at them (Advertising Association, 2011) . Some parents responding to our Call for Evidence and taking part in our qualitative research were particularly concerned about age-restricted products and services, such as alcohol and gambling, particularly online.There are also concerns about the regulations and rules for restricting advertising of age-restricted products through other media. ”

“ Marketers also often seek to earn the endorsement of consumers without offering a reward.
Brand ambassadors
A brand ambassador is someone engaged by a brand or agency to promote or present a brand or product to others. This has traditionally involved celebrities or sportspeople acting as the public face of the brand, but a brand ambassador can be anyone being paid to promote a product to others, even for example their friends and family. The advertiser effectively employs the person as they would a traditional advertising medium like TV or Radio. ”

“ So children are undoubtedly under a great deal of pressure to consume. But the parents we heard from clearly feel that it is up to them, with support from other parents, to resist, and to help their children resist, these sorts of pressures, and to say 'no'. ”

“ A Consumer Ombudsman aims to initiate discussion with advertisers, media and others, promotes guidelines about appropriate advertising to children and acts as a point of contact for complaints about marketing to children as well as a watchdog for violations of the law. ”

“ Together with the marketing of brands as well as products, and the volume of merchandising accompanying popular television, film and book characters, parents are concerned that commercial practices contribute to a “layering” effect that can be overwhelming and which they fear is having a negative impact on family life. ”

“ The key to helping children to distinguish between advertisements and content is clear and consistent labelling, and there are many examples of good practice, such as the clear separation of 'paid for' and 'non—paid for' search listings on most search engines. ”

“ And while there is quite a lot of consensus over the age at which children understand television advertising (for example, see the work of Deborah Roedder John, 1999) , how children use and understand newer marketing techniques is less certain, particularly as the lines between content and advertising can seem unclear to children, and the types of technique used tend to be processed implicitly and without conscious awareness (Nairn and Fine, 2008) ”

“ Children are increasingly using the internet (Ofcom, 2011 (2) ) and in doing so are exposed to a significant volume of marketing messages as social networking sites and other sites popular with Children become increasingly Parent, Call for Evidence response commercialised and companies spend more on online advertising. ”

“ Children in their turn are influenced by their friends and what is popular at school: the large majority of the children and young people in the Office of the Children's Commissioner for England's survey thought that children and young people are under pressure to own certain items. ”

“ There is evidence that society is becoming increasingly commercialised (DCSF/DCMS, 2009; Phoenix, 2011) . The market for goods and services for children is large and growing—estimated to be in the order of £100 billion a year if childcare and education is included–and there is some evidence that children's influence on family spending is increasing, as well as their own spending power (DCSF/DCMS, 2009) . ”

“ In partnership with the media industry,Argentina’s Ministry of Education has created a national media education programme.This is designed to increase the ability of children and young people to understand and interpret messages in the media, and to help parents guide their children's relationship with the media. ”

“ There will inevitably be grey areas and occasions when it is difficult to distinguish editorial content from a marketing message, and the ASA will need sufficient resources to police this area.This makes it even more necessary for businesses to step up and ensure their marketing complies with the spirit of the regulation as much as the letter, for example by using the Advertising Association's CHECK website. ”

“ Booklets for parents have been produced and distributed as inserts in popular newspapers – all funded by industry. ‘TVin the Family’, for instance, answered some frequent questions and concerns that parents have about children and television along with helpful advice to help parents discuss television with their children. 'Internet in the Family' contained tips and recommendations for safer internet use, enabling parents to provide guidance to their children when surfing the internet. ”

“ The Best Practice Recommendation will be rolled out over the next twelve months via national industry associations and self—regulatory organisations, such as the ASA, and by mid 2012 it is foreseen that 70 per cent of all member nations will have implemented it. ”

“ Advergames broadly take the form of an interactive game, featuring a brand, product, good or service.They are hosted both on brands’ own websites and external sites, as well as mobile phone applications and are subject to advertising regulations. ”