New Children’s Advertising Code in full effect for Christmas advertising blitz
Almost 18 months after the Australian Association of National Advertisers (AANA) announced a review of its Children’s Advertising Code, a revised set of regulations have today taken effect.
The revamped code was revealed in August, giving advertisers just over three months to prepare for the new regulations, which extends beyond children’s product, addressing the evolving ways that children are consuming media.
AANA CEO Josh Faulks said the new Code will provide “critical protections around any advertising directed at children.”
“It places a clear ban on directing advertising of hazardous products to children such as vapes, kava or highly caffeinated drinks,” he continued. “It also prohibits the encouragement of unsafe practices, including bullying or promoting unhealthy body image, and the use of sexual appeal or imagery when communicating to children.”
The Children’s Advertising Code now pays special attention to the rise of influencer advertising directed at children – dubbed ‘kidfluencing’.
“The rules go beyond Australian Consumer Law recognising the subtle, embedded nature of influencer advertising directed at children which research says lowers children’s ability to recognise it as advertising. It must now be immediately clear to a child that they are interacting with advertising content,” Faulks added.
The industry body said the Code will work in tangent with the AANA’s Food & Beverage Code, which already bans advertising of junk food an beverages to children.
Earlier this year, in response to a bill filed by independent MP Dr Sophie Scamps, Faulks remained firm that a “blanket ban” on junk food advertising would not solve childhood obesity.
“With strong rules already in place, blanket advertising bans are unnecessary and will cause job losses across multiple sectors as we face significant economic headwinds,” he said in June.
The AANA has also been under community pressure to update its Environmental Claims Code as the current regulations struggle to effectively deal with many instances of greenwashing across the advertising landscape.
A review of the code was first flagged in November 2021, though Faulks has been clear that the AANA would not ort any kind of ban of fossil fuel advertising. The review process was officially launched in November 2022, though a revised code is yet to come to fruition.
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