Kellogg’s found guilty of running Coco Pops ads in children’s shows
Kellogg’s has blamed administrative errors after being censured by the ASB for running a Coco Pops ad during “children themed” TV shows.
Kellogg’s was censured by the Advertising Standards Board after complaints that the ad ran during shows including Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron, Harriet the Spy and The Avengers.
While the ASB said the ad itself was not aimed at children, its appearance during a number of shows was a breach of the code.
Kellogg’s said it will now amend the ad and review media placement policies, but the cereal giant – a major investor in TV advertising – also questioned some of the metrics reported by Oztam measuring the number of children viewing some of the other shows it as criticised for advertising in.
“Given the serious anomalies in some of this data, we are very concerned about the integrity of the data – for example, it seems impossible that 55% of audience share for Dalziel & Pascoe (rated M for mature audiences) after midnight on a weeknight comprised the 5-12 yo demographic,” Kellogg’s argued in its response to the complaint.
“We are currently investigating this matter.”
It also questioned Oztam’s data relating to shows such as Balls of Steel.
“Balls of Steel (Thursday 26 Jan 17 at 22:47 on Go! Adelaide): the Oztam data shows that the 5-12 demographic audience share was 52%. This was unexpected given that Oztam provides that the average 5-12 demographic audience share in this timeslot is normally 0% (hence why the media agency and network placed the advertisement in this timeslot). The media agency and network query whether there was an anomaly in the data since it seems anomalous that such a high percentage of children would be watching this type of show which is rated “M” (British comedy show with adult themes) so late in the evening.”
One complaint to the ASB warned that Kellogg’s would attempt to say the ad was not aimed at children.
“We note that several of these programs are animated and broadcast during the Christmas school holidays,” the complaint said.
“We also note that Kellogg’s is likely to argue that the advertisement features and is aimed at the grocery buyer, however we submit that the primary focus of the advertisement would be to attract children, given emphasis on the animated Coco Pops steering the trolley.”
The complaint to the ASB said the running of the ad in the shows was a breach of the Responsible Children’s Marketing Initiative.
The ad features a box of the cereal opening and the Coco Pops forming a steering wheel, which drives a trolley through a supermarket, before turning into a hand which fetches a bottle of milk off a shelf. The trolley then returns to the checkout where a woman puts it on the checkout conveyor.
Kellogg’s said the ad was never aimed at children and the company was disappointed at the ruling, saying the placement of the ads had been an administrative error and had been on air for more than five years.
It said less than 1% of more than 1000 broadcasts of the ad had breached the rules
But rather than run the risk of the ad running again in child-themed shows the company said it would amend the current version.
“A lot of work goes into creating and planning these adverts, and we work hard to ensure that we do not breach any of the codes to which we are signatories,” Kellogg’s director of corporate affairs, Rebecca Boustead said.
“This is a very rare breach for us and we’re disappointed that it was the result of placement errors, but we are pleased to have the confirmation from the ASB that in fact the content of the TVC itself was primarily targeted to adults. This is consistent with our objectives when creating the TVC. In addition to updating the ad, we’ve taken action to ensure that our processes with media partners and the networks are tightened to minimise the risk of this happening again in the future.”
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