Almost 160 age-restricted ads broke advertising rules by appearing in children’s media during a three-month period, according to an ongoing online monitoring initiative conducted by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA).
In the first phase of a year-long project, the ASA used monitoring tools to capture ads served on a sample of over 50 websites and YouTube channels attracting a disproportionately high child audience.
In total, 35 advertisers were found guilty of placing 159 age-restricted ads on 34 of the chosen websites and five of the selected YouTube channels.
The biggest culprits were gambling firms and HFSS advertisers.
Some 70 different betting ads from four different gambling operators were discovered on eight websites. While 78 different HFSS ads from 29 advertisers appeared on 24 websites and five YouTube channels.
While HFSS ads should be targeted away from children and children’s media, the ASA’s monitoring picked up on a broad diversity of HFSS ads which broke the rules. The majority were unlikely to appeal to children. For example, ads for butter, nuts, seeds and cooking sauces, which are all classified as high in fat, sugar or salt are included in the results.
Other guilty parties included one alcohol brand, which had placed 10 different alcohol ads on a single website and one e-cigarette brand, which appeared on a children’s website.
“The ASA is using technology to proactively monitor online ads to help build a culture of zero tolerance for age-restricted ads appearing on websites aimed at children,” Advertising Standards Authority chief executive, Guy Parker said.
“We expect advertisers and the parties they contract with to use the sophisticated tools available to them to target their ads responsibly. This is just one part of a wider set of initiatives we’re undertaking to ensure children are protected online and we’ll report on our further work in this area in the coming months.”
All the advertisers whose ads broke the rules have been contacted to secure the removal of the problem ads. The offenders have been warned to review and, as necessary, amend their practices to ensure they target future ads responsibly.
The ASA will run this monitoring exercise quarterly over the next twelve months, to pick-up instances of and take action where age-restricted ads are served to child audiences.
The ASA will report publicly on these figures, as well as compliance action taken against repeat offenders, and share them with relevant industry groups.
