Advertising

Introduction

11.60 Children have high levels of consumption and considerable influence on family spending. Advertising and marketing targets them directly from an increasingly young age. There is considerable community concern about the effects of advertising on children.^[106] Young people themselves consider that advertisements should be more accurate and honest. 84% of respondents to our survey stated that advertisements are truthful either only sometimes or never.^[107]

They shouldn’t make the products seem heaps better than they are. The good and bad or not so good points of the item should be told too.^[108]

Some research has been done on the effects of advertising on children.The Federal Bureau of Consumer Affairs has reported that children below the age of five years are unable to discriminate consistently between programs and advertisements, especially when they are similar in style. Further, children below seven or eight years are said to possess little or no ability to recognise the persuasive intent of television advertising.^[109] However, there is continuing debate about the level of regulation needed to protect children at different ages and stages of development from inappropriate marketing techniques.^[110]

Regulatory and complaints mechanisms

11.61 The CTS set out restrictions on advertisements on commercial television during quota programs.^[111] No advertisements may be broadcast during nominated pre-schoolers’ viewing periods.^[112] At other times, broadcasters are required to ensure that commercials and sponsorship announcements are clearly distinguishable from programs to child viewers.^[113] In addition, stations may not broadcast advertisements designed to put undue pressure on children to ask their parents or other people to purchase an advertised product or service.^[114] Advertisements may not state or imply that a product makes children who own it superior to their peers or that a person who buys an advertised product for a child is more generous than a person who does not.^[115] CTS 17 provides that advertisements may not mislead or deceive children.^[116]

11.62 Where children or carers consider a commercial to be deceptive or misleading within the meaning of section 52 of the Trade Practices Act, they can approach the ACCC.^[117] In principle the Trade Practices Act protects child consumers from misleading trade practices to the same extent as adults. However, in practice courts may have difficulty establishing what is misleading to a child consumer particularly in regard to advertising.

11.63 The Advertising Standards Council ceased operation on 31 December 1996. This left children and their carers without access to an independent complaints mechanism for concerns about many advertisements. The Australian Association of National Advertisers has recently announced that it will fund the establishment of an Advertising Standards Board to hear grievances about all forms of advertising before the end of 1997.^[118] The Board will be composed of members from the media industry and the community and will have recommendatory powers only. The Inquiry supports the establishment of the Advertising Standards Board.^[119] It should take into account the particular needs of child consumers when considering complaints about advertising.^[120]

Reducing potential for adverse impact

11.64 Concern about the potentially harmful effects of advertising on children is not restricted to the Australian community. Tight controls on advertising during television programs directed at children have been introduced in a number of overseas jurisdictions.

11.65 In Quebec advertisements directed at children and adults can only be broadcast when the 2 to 11 year old age group represents less than 15% of the audience. Advertisement directed exclusively at children may only be broadcast during programs where the audience is less than 5% children. This ensures that children have adult supervision during peak times of advertising to children.^[121]

11.66 Sweden, Norway, Greece, Germany, Belgium, France and Austria ban advertising during children’s TV programs.^[122] Danish regulation of advertising directed at children is relatively similar to that in Australia and provides, for example, that advertisements must not contain a direct appeal to children to persuade others to buy the product being promoted and must not give the children the impression that they will have physical or psychological advantages if they buy the product.^[123] In addition, children under the age of 14 cannot give recommendations or testimonies about any product or service.^[124]

11.67 Research on the effects of advertising on children at different ages and stages of development should be reviewed to enable the preparation of guidelines for all advertisers to protect children at different ages and stages of development from harm. The review should look at international material in the area such as the Scandinavian reports that lead to the banning of advertising during children’s television programs.^[125] It should consider what effect exposure to advertising has on young people who are introduced to it at a later age. The advertising guidelines should include information on what constitutes misleading practices in relation to young media consumers. Consumer Affairs Queensland suggested that the following questions should also be considered during the course of the research review.

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  • To what extent do ‘misleading practices’ and all child directed advertising impact on the buying habits of child consumers?

  • What degree of regulation is required?

  • How successful are current overseas attempts at regulation?

  • Do ‘safe’ forms of advertising exist which can be used to promote children’s products?^[126]