Advertising & Children Index
7.1 Children as Viewers
7.2 Timing Restrictions
7.3 Avoiding Harm to Children
7.3.1 The Purpose of the Code Rules
7.3.2 Safety in the Home
7.3.3 Safety Outdoors
7.3.4 Child Emulation
7.3.5 Dangerous Toys
7.3.6 Things Unsuitable for Children
7.3.7 Health and Hygiene
7.4 Children's Lack of Experience
7.4.1 Exaggerations
7.4.2. Children's Toys and Other Products
7.4.3 Price and Value
7.5 Promotions of Interest to Children
7.6 Undue Pressure and Pestering
7.7 Lottery Style Promotions
7.8 Clubs
7.9 Direct Response Advertising and Children
7.9.1 Cash with Order Advertising
7.9.2 Premium Rate Telephone Lines
7.10 The Child in Advertising
7.10.1 Children's Behaviour
7.10.2 Children as Presenters
7.10.3 Testimonials
7.10.4 Exploitative Presentation
Section 7 of the Code covers Children and should be referred to.
7.1 Children as Viewers
Children are avid viewers of television commercials as well as programmes. However, they lack an adult's knowledge, experience and maturity of judgement, so special care is needed to ensure that no advertisement leads them into harm, takes advantage of their natural credulity, lack of experience or sense of loyalty, or encourages them to copy bad examples. (Please also refer to the section 6 - Harm & Offence).
It should be noted that the Code defines children as 'those aged 15 years and under.'
7.2 Timing Restrictions
During times when younger children are likely to be viewing, care should be taken to avoid transmitting advertisements containing material which might disturb or frighten them, e.g. pictures of monsters, horrific or frightening facial expressions or screams of terror, pain, etc. Appropriate timing restrictions will be imposed where necessary. Similarly, advertisements which contain anything likely to cause family embarrassment, or any undesirable behaviour which children may copy, if they are acceptable at all, will have a scheduling restriction applied.
Potential problems can sometimes be avoided by ensuring that certain advertisements are not shown at times when younger children are likely to be viewing without adult supervision. The age of the children in question and the extent of the problem are relevant in determining any timing restriction.
The following product categories are considered always to need the restrictions shown:
(i) not transmitted during children's programmes*, or in the advertisement breaks immediately before or after them:
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medicines, vitamins, dietary supplements, slimming products;
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sanitary protection products;
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religious products; '15' and '18' Certificate film trailers (which may, however, be subject to a more severe restriction if the subject warrants it);
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lotteries, pools or bingo;
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premium rated telephone services;
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fireworks and matches.
(* Note: 'Children's programmes' are defined in the rules on Advertising Breaks as 'programmes primarily of interest to children'. Broadcasters can advise advertisers and agencies on which programmes are regarded as falling into this category).
(ii) not transmitted during children's programmes, in the advertisement breaks immediately before or after them, or between 1600h and 1745h (except at weekends and on Bank Holidays and in live sport):
(iii) not transmitted before 2100h:
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advertisements in which children are shown having any medicine, vitamin or other dietary supplement administered to them;
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advertisements for medicines, vitamins or other dietary supplements which use techniques likely to appeal particularly to children, e.g. cartoons, toys or characters of special interest to children.(N.B. Relaxations of this rule are likely to be granted only in relation to such products as those for oral hygiene, skin preparations including treatments for acne and externally-applied decongestants);
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advertisements in which personalities or characters (including puppets and cartoon characters) associated with any children's programme present or positively endorse products or services of particular interest to children. N.B. This rule does not apply to public service advertisements or to characters specially created for advertisements;
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Condoms. (Subject to the content of the advertisement, advertising for condoms can be shown from 1900h on Channel 4). Reference to unbranded contraceptives, e.g. in the context of a public service announcement, would not be subject to this explicit restriction.
7.3 Avoiding Harm to Children
7.3.1 The Purpose of the Code Rules
Advertisements should contain nothing which might realistically be copied and result in harm to children. The examples quoted in this section and elsewhere in these Notes are not intended to be exhaustive; these guidelines are meant to be interpreted in the spirit as well as in the letter.
7.3.2 Safety in the Home
Medicines, disinfectants, household cleaners and other potentially harmful substances or objects should not be shown left lying around, or stored within reach of children. Where ‘child safety’ features are incorporated in products, advertising must not demonstrate how these can be disabled.
Open fires need particular care and should always be shown with a fireguard in place. Care must be taken to avoid portraying hazards such as ornately decorated fire surrounds at Christmas time.
Where domestic appliances are shown, all should be used in accordance with recognized safety procedures. Objects which might be safe in children's hands if used properly, should not be shown used in ways which might be dangerous (see also 7.3.4 below). People should not be shown throwing peanuts, sweets, etc. up into the air and catching them in their mouths, as this can result in choking.
Advertisements for the toy equivalents of tools or household appliances must avoid scenes which might encourage children to play with the real thing in a workshop or kitchen.
Small children should never appear to be unsupervised, especially in situations of particular danger, e.g. in the bath, and care must be taken to avoid showing them playing in potentially dangerous places, for example on a staircase.
People in charge of small children should not be shown disregarding sensible safety precautions or of official advice, or treating the children in ways which, if they were copied in real life, for example by older brothers and sisters, might lead to harm, e.g. tossing a baby up in the air and catching it again.
Babies should not be shown lying on their stomachs in cots or prams, or lying in places where they might fall, or, if below 18 months, being left alone with a feeding bottle.
7.3.3 Safety Outdoors
Children should not be shown entering strange places, talking to strangers, or in lonely or deserted places or anywhere else where they might be at risk. This will, obviously, depend very much on the age of the child or children featured, but younger children should be shown accompanied by a responsible person unless they are clearly in a safe place.
Children in advertisements must not be shown playing in the street, unless they are in a play-street or other safe area.
Particular care is needed where children are shown on the beach or otherwise in the vicinity of water. Children should not be seen digging large holes in the sand or be partially buried.
7.3.4 Child Emulation
It is important to avoid showing children in commercials doing things which might lead young viewers into harm if they copied them. It should be borne in mind that small children may well be encouraged to emulate the example of children older than themselves, particularly if the activity in question is novel or unusual or looks like fun, or if there is any suggestion of a 'dare'. This may, in certain circumstances, extend to actions carried out in commercials by adults and restrictions on the times of transmission may be imposed in such cases.
While the realistic likelihood of emulation can be assessed in each case, the degree of potential harm if a child were actually to emulate an action must also be taken into account. Behaviour which could have serious consequences should not be shown even if, realistically, emulation is not very likely.
7.3.5 Dangerous Toys
Potentially dangerous toys, e.g. air guns or other guns firing projectiles capable of causing injury, sharp knives and the like, may not be advertised. In assessing the risk of danger, much depends on the age of the children for whom the toy is intended. Toys which it might be unwise for toddlers to play with may be quite acceptable if they are intended only for older children, who can handle them safely. In exceptional circumstances, it may be necessary to include some indication in the advertisement itself, e.g. 'Not suitable for children under twelve years old'.
7.3.6 Things Unsuitable for Children
No commercial may show children using or handling anything which would be unsafe or otherwise unsuitable for children's use, whether the advertisement is to be transmitted during children's programme times or not. Examples include sharp-edged or otherwise dangerous tools or appliances, medicines, household bleaches, antiseptics or disinfectants, matches, outdoor fireworks, etc. Things which would normally be safe in children's hands under adult supervision, e.g. indoor fireworks, screwdrivers and similar tools, certain cooking utensils and domestic appliances, etc. may be shown being used by children of an appropriate age, provided adults are seen to be in charge.
7.3.7 Health and Hygiene
Advertisements should not show children neglecting normal hygiene requirements, nor in any way encourage them to do so. Advertisements should not encourage bad eating habits, such as over-consumption, eating frequently throughout the day, or eating or drinking at bedtime and such scenes must be avoided. (See also section 9 of these Notes of Guidance, Food: 'Confectionery & Snacks').
7.4 Children’s Lack of Experience
Advertising must be prepared with due consideration for the likely impact on the immature or inexperienced.
7.4.1 Exaggerations
Slogans and descriptions recognised by adults as exaggeration or hyperbole are liable to have a more literal meaning for children, and portrayals of children's products, including premium gifts, should not be exaggerated.
The age of the youngest children likely to be interested in the advertising should be taken into account when considering the use of techniques such as quick cutting, special effects and unusual camera angles.
A degree of fantasy is permitted, as long as it is clearly recognisable as such by children and as long as it does not confuse as to the nature of the actual product, but the portrayal of toys and other children's products must otherwise be accurate.
7.4.2 Children’s Toys and Other Products
Advertisements should not lead children to expect the product or toy to be bigger or better than it really is. Where fantasy sequences are included, they should be clearly distinguishable from sequences featuring the actual toy. If construction toys are shown assembling themselves as if by magic, the advertisement may need to establish how the toy is actually put together.
Advertisements should include a clear scale reference, establishing the size of a toy in relation to some familiar everyday object of unambiguous size, and such scale references should not be distorted by perspective or any other means. It is preferable that scale should be established through the presence of a child - or at least a hand. This also applies to promotional items supplied with products of interest to children e.g. breakfast cereals, burgers etc.
Demonstrations of a toy should accurately reflect what a typical child would experience in using it. Shots of toys which are not self-propelled, apparently moving independently, may be acceptable provided the advertisement also demonstrates very clearly how they are actually propelled.
Visual techniques such as extreme close-up tracking shots should not be used so as to exaggerate the size, nature or capability of the toy.
In the case of toys with real-life counterparts, such as cars or trains, if the real counterpart of a toy is shown, there must be no confusion as to which the toy is and which the counterpart is.
Sound effects from toys must be accurately reproduced.
If toys are shown against elaborate backgrounds, there should be no confusion between the two and a clarifying caption may be required, e.g. 'background set not included'.
Where accessories or individual items are sold separately, e.g. doll's clothing or a range of toy cars, the advertisement must make this clear.
Where a toy is battery powered or otherwise requires additional items in order to work, advertisements must make this clear (e.g. “batteries/cables required”).
7.4.3 Price and Value
Advertisements for expensive* toys, games and similar products must include a clear indication of their price. Where an advertisement features a range of items, only the most expensive one need be priced. Where more than one item is priced, it must be clear which price refers to which item. If accessories involving extra cost are shown in the advertisement, their prices will need to be clearly stated if they fall into the 'expensive' category. If a price quoted does not include any essential extra, this must be made clear, e.g. 'batteries not included'.
Prices must not be minimised or presented in such a way as to suggest that children or their parents can easily afford them: phrases such as 'only £x' or 'just Ex' are not acceptable and the words 'at pocket money prices' should not be used if the price is more than a child could be expected to pay from a week's pocket money. * *
Where accessories are available separately from the toy, e.g. dolls' clothes or furniture, it must be clear that such items are not included in the price quoted for the toy itself. Where expensive accessories are advertised, it should not be suggested that they are essential for the enjoyment of the basic toy.
* A product is not regarded as expensive if it is reasonably widely available at a retail price below a level defined from time to time by BCAP.
** A 'pocket money price' is determined by BCAP based on the most recent average pocket money level as indicated by the Walls Pocket Money Monitor. Details of the current 'pocket money price' are available from Clearcast.
7.5 Promotions of Interest to Children
If children cannot be expected to exercise a preference over the product being promoted (e.g. household cleaners, domestic appliances), any advertisement which features a promotion which might be of interest to children must be unambiguously addressed to adults.
Any promotion advertised should be freely available in the transmitting area(s) and stocked by retailers before the advertisement is transmitted. Where an offer involves an ongoing process of collection, e.g. cards or figures, it should be open for a sufficient period of time to enable the complete set to be collected and a reference to the closing date may be appropriate. The effort or outlay required to win any prize in a children's competition should not be minimised nor the value of prizes, or the chances of winning, exaggerated.
Competition prizes which may cause disagreement between parents and children, such as holidays, substantial cash sums, etc., should not be offered to children unless the rules require parents or guardians to give written permission for their children to enter.
7.6 Undue Pressure and Pestering
Advertisements addressed to children must avoid "high pressure" and "hard sell" techniques, i.e. urging children to buy or to persuade others to buy. Neither the words used nor, equally importantly, the tone in which they are delivered, should suggest that young viewers are being bullied, cajoled or otherwise put under pressure to acquire the advertised item.
Advertisements must not encourage children to pester or make a nuisance of themselves to other people and nothing in any advertisement should appear to encourage them to do so. Phrases such as 'Ask Mummy to buy you' are not acceptable. Advertisements may not attempt to sell to children by playing on emotions such as pity, fear, loyalty, self-confidence, etc. There must be no suggestion that children will be either somehow superior to other children if they own the product being advertised, or somehow inferior if they do not, or that possession of the advertised item is essential to peer-group acceptance.
7.7 Lottery Style Promotions
Promotions related to products of particular interest to children, most commonly children’s snacks and confectionery, which present themselves as lotteries, e.g. through the use of scratchcards, etc., will be deemed lotteries.
7.8 Clubs
No advertisement dealing with the activities of a club or similar organisation for children can be accepted without the submission of satisfactory evidence that it is carefully and responsibly supervised.
7.9 Direct Response Advertising and Children
7.9.1 Cash with Order Advertising
No CWO advertisement may be addressed to children or invite them to order products by mail, telephone, internet or through any other interactive electronic media.
7.9.2 Premium Rate Telephone Lines
Advertisements for premium-rate telephone lines must comply in all respects with the Code issued by ICSTIS (The Independent Committee for the Supervision of Standards of Telephone Information Services).
Premium-rate telephone services may not be advertised on television in the breaks adjacent to children's programmes, nor may advertisements for them be directly addressed to children. Advertisements for competitions or games with prizes, if they are likely to be of interest to children, must contain a clear reminder of the need to obtain parental permission before making a call. Such services are regarded as being of interest to children if, for example, those under 16 are eligible to participate and/or win prizes. Although the Code defines children as those aged 15 and under, this rule reflects the more restrictive definition used by ICSTIS, on the grounds that young people under the age of 16 are not usually responsible for paying telephone bills. For further information on the advertising of premium-rate telephone services, see section 16 of these Notes of Guidance, Cash With Order Advertising.
7.10 The Child in Advertising
7.10.1 Children's Behaviour
Children in advertisements should be reasonably well-behaved. They should never appear to be engaged in serious mischief or any kind of law-breaking.
7.10.2 Children as Presenters
Children may not be used in commercials to present or otherwise comment on products in relation to which they cannot reasonably be expected to have any special interest or direct knowledge. Neither may they be used as formal presenters for products which, although of interest to them, they could not be expected to buy themselves and any comment they do make in respect of such products must be restricted to aspects of the product likely to be of interest to them.
7.10.3 Testimonials
Since many people regard formalised testimony by children as an inappropriate degree of commercial exploitation, children may not be used in this way. There will, however, normally be no objection to children as real persons making comments on matters in which they would have an obvious natural interest.
7.10.4 Exploitative Presentation
Children must not be portrayed in a sexually provocative manner. Particular discretion is needed in advertisements where children appear naked or partially clothed. Great care is required to ensure that children are not portrayed in ways that parody adult sexuality.