Emerging Issues: 1- Digital advertising and privacy 2- Digital advertising to children 3- Commercialisation & sexualisation of children in advertising 4- Body image, airbrushing and gender stereotyping 5- Environmental claims

1. Emerging global policy issues in
the field of advertising
July 2013

2. 1. Digital advertising and privacy
2. Digital advertising to children
3. Commercialisation & sexualisation of children in
advertising
4. Body image, airbrushing and gender stereotyping
5. Environmental claims
Emerging Issues

3. • Increasing data being processed online
• Online advertising techniques raise
new privacy concerns, e.g. Online
Behavioural Advertising (OBA)
• Mobile brings additional layer of
concern, i.e. geo-location data.
Regulators are asking:
What is personal data?
How should users give their consent (opt-
in v. opt-out)?
What balance between online ad-funded
business model and users’ right to
privacy?
1. Digital advertising and privacy

4. • NGOs and privacy advocates maintain
pressure on governments
• Revision of Data Protection regulations in
all regions: EU, US, China, Singapore, etc.
• EU: world’s strictest privacy laws in
process of being tightened further
• USA: FTC scrutiny +
Administration White Paper calling for “Do
Not Track”
• Global discussions on “Do Not Track”
standards (W3C)
1. Digital advertising and privacy
Status of public and political debate:

5. Industry response:
•Industry standards for online behavioural
advertising (OBA)
•Icon-based, choice and user control on e.g.
www.youronlinechoices.eu (EU),
www.aboutads.info/choices (US)
•Targeting of children under 13 with OBA
prohibited
Resources:
•WFA support pack on OBA self-regulation
•WFA Get Digital Ready Pack
1. Digital advertising and privacy

6. • Children’s growing internet use: In the UK,
75% of 5-16s own a laptop and 7-16s using the
Internet do so 2hrs/day, ˃5 days/wk (Childwise, 2012)
• 38% of European 9-12s use Facebook
(despite being not allowed) (EU Kids online, April 2011)
• Children are 77% more likely to visit
internet pages with advergames and
spend 88% more time on these pages
(Harris, 2012)
• Parents feel lack of control over online
advertising to children
• Need to ensure that current rules
protecting children are transferable to
digital marketing communications
2. Digital advertising to children

7. Status of public and political debate:
•Distinction between advertising/editorial content less
evident online; ’blurring’
•US new COPPA rules to protect children online require parental consent
for collecting <13’s data
•Revision of EU Data Protection legislation
- Risk of children being defined as <18
- Parental consent
•Mobile apps:
o Increased brand engagement
o Geo-location & Privacy concerns
•Advergames:
o Strong academic/NGO focus
o Most popular marketing tool on brand websites – branded entertainment:
$26bn in 2009 (Adweek)
2. Digital advertising to children

8. Industry responses:
•Global Industry OBA SR framework: No
collection of data from <13s
•EU Pledge initiative: No online advertising of
products which do not meet specific nutritional criteria
to children <12 (third party and company-owned
websites)
•Teaching media literacy: Media Smart
o Paid by advertisers, creative from agencies,
airtime from media
o Runs in the UK and 8 other EU countries +
Mexico
o Digital Adwise specifically designed to help
children navigate online world
 Resources: WFA Get Digital Ready Pack
2. Digital advertising to children

9. 3. Commercialisation & sexualisation of
children
• Commercialisation of children has
become a major concern for parents
and policy-makers, especially in the
UK.
• NGOs claim parents are powerless
faced with growing pressure on
children to ‘buy things’
• NGOs think society is full of
sexualised imagery (ads, music
videos, clothing, online pornography,
etc.) where ‘children can’t be
children’

10. Status of public and political debate:
•Debate on the sexualisation of children through
advertising (originated in the UK) echoed in
France, Ireland, Israel & Australia
•UK Bailey Review (June 2011) – key
recommendations:
o Ban use of <16s as brand ambassadors and in peer-
to-peer marketing
o Define children as <16 in all ad codes (= ban on OBA
to <16s)
o Reduce “sexualised” images in outdoor advertising
o Involve parents in self-regulation
o Increase scrutiny of media literacy education
programmes
•2011 UNICEF UK report calls for <12 ad ban
4. Commercialisation & sexualisation of
children

11. Industry responses
•UK Advertising Standards Authority’s
initiatives to increase children protection,
incl. website for parents about ad regulatory
standards; teaching pack “Ad:Check” for ad
savvy students, stricter ‘sexualised imagery’s
regulation in outdoor advertising
•UK Committee for Advertising Practices
(CAP)’s new guidance about the use of children
as brand ambassadors and in peer-to-peer
marketing
 Resources: RAC key messages
4. Commercialisation & sexualisation of
children

12. • Increasingly, body image
issues receiving growing
policy-makers’ attention
• Advertisers blamed for
promoting unrealistic ideals
and fostering gender
stereotypes
5. Body image/airbrushing/gender
stereotypes

13. Status of public and political debate:
•Israel parliament bans underweight models, makes “photoshop
warning label” mandatory; Austrian and Polish MPs introduce
similar bills
•Several cosmetics ads banned in the UK (July 2011) for
airbrushing
•Portrayal of women: Ford India ad campaign censored (March
2013); UK Lynx (Unilever) ad banned (Nov 2011) for demeaning
women
•British House of Commons Body Image Parliamentary Group
report (May 2012) finds children vulnerable to body image
concerns
•Advertisers blamed for perpetuating gender stereotypes, esp. ads
targeting children
5. Body image/airbrushing/gender
stereotypes

14. Industry responses
•Gender specific toys: In France & in Sweden,
supermarket and kids’ store release unisex
Christmas’ gift catalogues for children
•Brands’ ad campaigns, like Dove (Unilever)
feature “real women”
•In the UK, Media Smart Body Image lesson
(September 2011) & Parent Pack (June 2012)
aim to foster body image education
•In several countries, SROs handle consumers
complaints & ensure that ads are decent, legal,
honest and truthful
 Resources: WFA One-pager on Body Image &
RAC key messages
5. Body image, airbrushing & gender
stereotypes

15. • Sustainable development: increasing
demand for sustainable goods and
services
• Marketing communications use
environmental claims to promote
properties of products
• Challenge: absence of clearly defined
terms and rules
 What is “green”? When do we begin
calculating the footprint?
6. Environmental claims

16. Status of public and political debate:
•Pressure mounting from environment NGOs
denouncing the “sins” of greenwashing
•National debate & global discussions UN
World Summit on Sustainable Development
(2002) + UNEP
•US FTC: revised ‘Green Guides’ (Oct. 2012)
•European Commission: MultiStakeholder
Dialogue on Environmental Claims = input for
the revision of the Unfair Commercial
Practices Directive Guidance Document
•Energy labelling: pressure to extend energy
labels to advertising of “white goods” and
6. Environmental claims

17. 6. Environmental claims
Industry response:
•ICC Code of Marketing and
Advertising: general principles and
definitions of: “environmental
aspect”, “environmental claim”,
“environmental impact”, “life cycle”,
“product”, “qualification” and
“waste”…
•Codes developed by national
advertisers’ associations in
collaboration with Environment
Ministry (French Charter on eco-
responsible advertising and UK
revised DEFRA Guidelines)

18. • Heavy criticism of alcohol advertising by anti-
alcohol NGOs
• Underage exposure and “appeal” to minors
are greatest challenges
• Conflicting approaches to exposure
measurement: industry v. NGOs
• Ongoing debate on the quality of biased
scientific evidence, funded by EU and driven
by anti-alcohol advocates
• Extension of these debates to developing
countries
 What role for industry self-regulation?
7. Alcohol advertising

19. Status of public and political debate:
•Growing pressure at member state level,
backed up by EU and WHO strategies
•2010 World Health Organisation (WHO)
Global Strategy to Reduce the Harmful Use of
Alcohol
•Self-regulation challenged to step up action
and deliver tangible results
•NGO criticism focuses on:
o Exposure of underage
o Underage “appeal” of alcohol marketing
o Perceived absence of rules on social media
7. Alcohol advertising

20. 7. Alcohol advertising
Industry response:
•Current best practice to ensure
responsible placement of alcohol
advertising (70/30)
•WFA Responsible Marketing Pact: a
commitment to the EU Alcohol and Health
Forum based on three pillars:
o Social media: Prevent minors from
inadvertently seeing alcohol ads
o Appeal: put in place common standard to
prevent primary appeal to minors
o Placement: Full implementation of 70/30 rule
and oversight by SROs. Reinforce evidence
on impact.
•International Center for Alcohol Policies
(ICAP) ‘Global Actions on Harmful
Drinking’

21. CONTACTS:
General Query:
Nafisa Gabaji – nafisa.gabaji@pas.org.pk
Advertising & Children and Food Advertising:
Simon Meehan – s.meehan@wfanet.org
Alcohol Advertising:
Paola de la Baume – p.delabaume@wfanet.org
Digital Advertising:
Malte Lohan – m.lohan@wfanet.org