Ad Industry Must Bring Online Ads Under Remit Of Voluntary Code

The advertising industry must bring online ads fully under the remit of its voluntary code or face the threat of legislation.

This is the warning to the industry by the Government, as ministers stepped up the pressure on the industry to act as they expressed concern about the number of online ads aimed at children.

“It cannot be right that 90% of the complaints to the Advertising Standards Authority about online ads were outside its remit,” one government source told Campaign. “The industry has got to put its own house in order.”

Industry leaders think they can head off the threat and insist plans to meet government guidelines are in the pipeline. The Advertising Association’s Digital Media Forum will report this autumn and the industry is revising its own code.

The issue is on the political agenda after a government-commissioned report by the psychologist Dr Tanya Byron on the impact of the internet on children was released last week.

She recommended the “future-proofing” of the regulatory system to include digital to prevent “harmful and offensive advertising to children”.

Lord Smith, the ASA chairman, said: “The ASA shares this concern about protecting children and has already challenged the industry to address the regulatory gap that currently exists around advertising that appears online.”

A report from the National Consumer Council (NCC) late last year called for children to be better protected from online ads on some of their favourite websites.

The Fair Game report found that lots of the websites popular with children are actually targeted at older age groups, which means that some of the ads children see are unsuitable (see Report Claims Children Need More Protection From Online Ads).

ASA: 020 7580 5555 www.asa.org.uk