Set Back For Plans To Ban Food Advertising To Children
Plans to bring an end to food and drink advertising during children’s TV programmes have suffered a set back after the Bill proposing the ban was dropped due to a lack of Parliamentary time.
The Ten-Minute Rule Bill, put forward last year by Labour MP Debra Shipley (see ISBA Condemns Calls To Restrict Pre-School TV Advertising), received extensive cross-party support and backing from consumer groups concerned with the rising levels of obesity amongst children in the UK (see Advertisers To Block Ban On Advertising Food To Children).
However, ISBA has welcomed the news that the Bill is to be delayed, arguing that existing rules on children’s advertising for broadcast media are stringent enough and that the loss of revenue caused by such a ban could prove devastating to the quality of children’s television.
A spokesperson for ISBA commented: “The Bill would be difficult to implement because it is extremely hard to distinguish what programmes children watch. Obviously there is content which is specifically aimed at this age group but research shows children also watch adult programmes.”
It is understood that Shipley remains intent on pressing for some form of ban on advertising to children and may re-introduce the Bill, or a similarly worded one, in the next Parliamentary session.
The latest research from ISBA reveals that the advertising downturn has caused a major shift in the way media agencies are paid, with almost half now incorporating some form of payment by results system (see ISBA Study Reveals Shift Towards Payment By Results).
DCMS: 020 7211 6200 www.dcms.gov.uk ISBA: 020 7499 7502 www.isba.org.uk
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