ISBA Defends Advertising Aimed At Toddlers

ISBA is strongly defending adverts aimed at toddlers after around 80 Labour MP’s signed a Commons early day motion yesterday, calling for a ban on advertising during TV programmes aimed at the under fives.

Labour MP Deborah Shipley is leading the motion, which is due to be published in the House of Commons today. Shipley is believed to have said that advertising to under-fives was “inappropriate” and amounted to “brainwashing.”

Speaking on behalf of British advertisers, ISBA said that advertising aimed at children is already highly regulated and that banning it would result in “the impoverishment of the quality and quantity of children’s TV.”

ISBA’s director of public affairs, Ian Twinn, said: “Children’s programming in the UK is widely respected. Advertisers understand parents concerns, but banning advertising to children is not the answer. In countries that ban advertising, there are fewer hours of children’s programmes in the week and more imports.”

Last October ISBA launched a set of best practice principles for commercial activities in schools, reflecting the more relaxed approach to branding on teaching materials and corporate-sponsored activities (see ISBA Launches School Sponsorship Guidelines).

ISBA: 020 7499 7502 www.isba.org.uk

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