Day 054 - 24 Nov 94 - Page 53
1 Q. I do not know whether you have still got that page
2 of "Advertiser's Dream" open, but it talks about other
3 countries. Could you perhaps go into a little detail about
4 what the situation is in other countries in relation to
5 advertising directed at children?
6 A. This is in relation to the regulations or rules that
7 control advertisements in different countries. There are
8 different regulations in different countries. Some of
9 these are relevant to advertising to children. In Holland,
10 for example, confectionery advertisements are not permitted
11 to be shown until after 8 o'clock in the evening. Then
12 they must be accompanied by a toothbrush logo which is
13 designed to remind children to brush their teeth. The
14 Nordic countries, Norway and Sweden, have traditionally
15 restricted advertising to children on television in France.
16
17 MR. MORRIS: In what way, sorry?
18 A. They do not permit it.
19
20 MS. STEEL: No advertising to children at all.
21
22 MR. MORRIS: On television.
23
24 MS. STEEL: On television?
25 A. Yes.
26
27 Q. Do you know why that is?
28 A. They have considered that it is inappropriate along the
29 lines that I have just been talking about, that they do not
30 consider that children should be targeted with advertised
31 products. It is not a dissimilar position to the
32 recommendation that was made by the UK's Government
33 Committee set up to look into broadcasting known as the
34 ANNAN Committee. If I can refer you back to "Advertiser's
35 Dream" on page 28: "In 1977 the report of the committee on
36 the future of broadcasting, which was known the ANNAN
37 Committee, recommended a ban on advertising during
38 children's programming and on advertising child-targeted
39 products until after 9 p.m. The Committee was concerned
40 that advertisements increased children's desire for
41 products which their parents could not afford."
42
43 Q. The reason given there?
44 A. This did not come into effect, primarily that the IBA
45 reported that such a ban on advertising would result in the
46 loss in the region of £15 million worth of advertising
47 revenue which it claimed would be to the detriment of
48 children's programming.
49
50 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Would there actually be any children's
51 commercial television if advertising was banned on it, or
52 perhaps you cannot answer that?
53 A. I believe that alternative ways of funding children's
54 television could be explored. "A minority of the Committee
55 did believe that the interests of the audience would be
56 better served by retaining the commercials as the lesser of
57 two evils, though the majority did take he view and
58 believed that there should be a period set aside when
59 children could watch programmes made for them on ITV
60 without the 'blandishments and subtle persuasiveness of
