Note: This advice is given by the CAP Executive about non-broadcast advertising. It does not constitute legal advice. It does not bind CAP, CAP advisory panels or the Advertising Standards Authority.
Section 5 of the CAP Code contains the rules regarding advertising targeted at, and featuring, children. Rule 5.1 states that ads must contain nothing that is likely to result in their physical, mental or moral harm and makes clear that children must:
not be encouraged to enter strange places or talk to strangers (Rule 5.1.1). Mobile phone marketers, for example, should ensure that they have adequate safeguards to protect children from contact with strangers (O2 (UK) Ltd, 17 July 2002);
not be shown in hazardous situations or behaving dangerously except to promote safety (Rule 5.1.2). An advertisement for Ford Motor Company Ltd (24 October 2001) was found not to breach the Code because the featured child was obviously shown in a parked car and did not, therefore, need to be wearing a seatbelt. An ad for kitchens that showed a young child sitting in a fridge, however, was considered to breach the Code because the child was in a hazardous situation (Kitchens by Franklyn Sheldon, 3 December 2003);
not be shown using or close to dangerous substances or equipment without adult supervision (Rule 5.1.3). The ASA received complaints about an ad that featured two boys trying to pull a heavy garden roller but, because the roller was uncommon in household gardens and the ad did not suggest movement, the ASA considered the image was an innocent metaphor for working together (ntl Group Ltd, 4 January 2006) and
not be encouraged to copy any practice that might be unsafe for a child (Rule 5.1.4). Over the years, the ASA has received complaints about: ads showing a child about to jump from a tall building; ads showing new-born babies with syringes and meths bottles in their mouths; a poster in sports and leisure centres that showed children drinking underwater (Britvic Soft Drinks Ltd, 25 September 2002); press ads showing ‘cowboys’ holding open tin cans with the lid still attached and, more recently, an ad that showed fashion models posing on a railway crossing (Debenhams Retail plc,21 November 2007). The ASA has judged each ad, upholding some complaints and rejecting others. To minimise the chance of the ASA considering that their campaigns encourage children to emulate unsafe practices, marketers should take care to target their marketing communications carefully. Generally speaking, marketers are less likely to fall foul of the rules if they limit their ads to adult media, such as the national press. That strategy is not foolproof: the ASA has upheld complaints about national press ads that showed a woman with a plastic bag over her head (British Heart Foundation, 19 June 2002) and dismissed complaints about a poster showing a woman with elastic bands around her face (Guardian Newspaper Ltd, 23 February 2005). Marketers should try to gauge the likelihood of children emulating the activity shown.
Distance selling marketers must take care when using youth media not to promote products that are unsuitable for children (Rule 5.1.4)
Marketers who use medicines as a marketing gimmick or sharp promotional gifts should make sure that they do not fall into the hands of children (Vodafone Group plc, 8 January 2003, and Gary Rathbone, 1 August 2001).
See ‘Phones: Mobile Phones and Children’ and ‘Safety’.
Last modified : 01 September 2010