AJPark

Children are highly susceptible to the charms of advertising, so care needs to be taken to safeguard their interests.  Advertising tells children about a particular product or service—it also tells them about the world they live in.

Children are a key target market for advertisers and marketers. Not only are they easily swayed by advertising, they are great at encouraging parents to buy products. If a child wants something, they will pester their parents until they get what they want. Anyone who has seen a child pester their parents knows the lengths kids can go to, and all it takes is a little suggestion from a single advertisement to send them on their way.

New advertising standards codes have been introduced to help retailers and other businesses advertise to children.   It is important that all businesses have a working knowledge of these codes to ensure they comply.

New Zealand's Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has released three new codes of practice.  The new codes relate to advertising to children, advertising food, and advertising food to children.

On first glance, it does not seem there is much of note, but there are some important changes to be aware of.  Like with most things, the devil is in the detail!  And it looks like more change is on the horizon when it comes to advertising foods high in fat, salt and/or sugar (HFSS). 

New code for advertising of food

This code now applies to food advertising directed at people 14 years old and over, rather than all food advertising. 

But, even if your advertising is targeted at the over 20s, it still needs to comply with the children’s codes. Timing and placement of your advertising is critical here.  If children will see or hear the advertising, then the two new children’s codes also apply.

The food advertising code is more prescriptive than before.  It will be interesting to see how some of the rules will work in practice.  For example, food quantities depicted in an advertisement should not exceed suitable serving sizes.  So, it could be that a KFC BIG BUCKET advertisement complies if it features the right amount of people for the size of the bucket.  But there could be compliance issues if the advertisement features only one person with fine print explaining how many eighteen year olds the BIG BUCKET feeds. 

Advertisements for foods high in sugar should not claim to be ‘low fat or ‘fat free’.  And foods high in fat cannot have advertisements claiming them to be ‘low in sugar’ or ‘sugar free’. Both claims are now seen as leading consumers to believe the food is low in energy or beneficial to health.  This is a change in position and could represent a real trap.  Until now you could advertise a bag of sugar as ‘fat free’ or, a block of lard as ‘sugar free’, but that’s no longer the case. Care needs to be taken with what you say in your advertisement.

There is also now a broad ban on HFSS advertisements promoting a competition, premium or loyalty programme that encourage excessive repeat buying.  Again, it will be interesting to see what the Complaints Board considers “excessive repeat purchases”.  It might pay to take some caution in this area.

New code for advertising to children

This Code applies to all advertising that influences children.  It introduces a subtle change from the previous code which regulated advertising to children.  While not major in scope, the new code makes it clear that you need to think about the impact your advertising could have on children regardless of whether they are your target audience or not.

It is also probably worth mentioning that children are still “under 14 years old”, despite many submissions arguing the age should be increased to 18.

New children’s code for advertising food

Again, like the code for advertising to children, this code applies to all advertising that influences children.

Any real change is hard to find. If any change exists, it may be in the application of the code to HFSS foods, like toasted muesli, and drinks.  While the language of the new code is not hugely different from the old code on advertising food, the impression gained is that  it just feels like there’s a tightening of what’s acceptable in HFSS advertising. No doubt greater clarity will come with time when the Complaints Boards considers this code if a complaint is raised.

More to come for HFSS foods

The ASA has also made other recommendations related to treat or HFSS foods. Pre-vetting ads, extending ‘Getting it Right for Children’ beyond TV, and regulating product packaging and labelling are all being talked about.

Also in the background bubbling away is some pressure for government regulation.  Everyone will want to avoid a repeat of the recent Law Commission report on regulating alcohol and alcohol advertising. The report recommended severely curtailing alcohol advertising and saw little place for self-regulation.

What you need to do

Many retailers target children in their advertising.  That is understandable given they are a very influential consumer base.  But the rules about how you can target this group have changed, and will continue to change  Retailers and other businesses need to keep abreast of these changes to ensure that their advertising is compliant.

I’ve given you an overview on the recent changes here, but for more information about the codes, visit www.asa.co.nz.  And if in doubt, seek advice from an expert on advertising law.

An edited version of this article was published in NZ Retail magazine, September 2010.

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  Corinne Blumsky

  Partner