Advertising deemed unfit for children has come under increased scrutiny.

TELEVISION advertisements are mainly directed at adults, but their most eager audience may be children. Short and snappy, ads are all but tailored to a short attention span, and children make the catchy jingles their own. And the advertising that appears in a child’s environment attracts a great deal of attention.

Media psychologist Tarja Salokangas has been told by many adults that they remember the advertisements from their childhood better than the TV series themselves.

“For adults, an ad break is a chance to go and do something else, but children are quite transfixed,” Salokangas says.

In recent years the Council of Ethics in Advertising (MEN) has been quicker to intervene in cases of advertising deemed inappropriate for children. Referrals have become more common, and the council has issued an increased number of warnings on the matter. Last year MEN issued a warning on ten advertisements, eight of which were declared unfit for children. The other two attracted a warning for offensive advertising.

“Children should not see everything”

Sex products, jeans and sweets are among the products touted in ads unfit for children. For example, the ads have made inappropriate references to sex. The ads are directed at adults, but presented in a place or time in which children are watching. Some of the ads have been radio or TV ads, and some have been outside ads.

Salokangas feels that it is important to discuss advertising directed at children. The media has become sexualised, and naked skin appears in even the most baffling of contexts. She points out that children interpret media quite differently to older views.

“We adults interpret the sexuality in ads in ways children do not even grasp.” Salokangas argues that adults and parenting are most important with regard to advertising which falls outside of a child’s normal environment, such as television after 21 o’clock.

Advertising ubiquity

Content broadcast after 21 o’clock may also reach younger viewers during the day. For example, films scheduled for later in the evening may be advertised during prime children’s viewing time.

Last year MEN issued a warning over a case in which advertising for a TV series directed at viewers 15+ was broadcast. The Gossip Girl series, shown here on Sub TV, was advertised with the text “Obscene, brazen, debauched, OMG! Gossip Girl”.

Paula Paloranta, a lawyer with MEN, says that outside advertising is partly examined against stricter criteria than other advertising. Nobody can escape outside ads. Outside advertising is not subject to different legislation or guidance, rather, operators in the field regulate themselves.

Outside ads for Otto raspberry alcopop also drew a warning from MEN. The ads played on the similarity between the word for raspberry and the most offensive Finnish swear word. The council felt that the ads appealed to young people even if the product was meant for consumers of legal age. “The class of advertising in question can be seen as promoting vulgar language use by young people, and thus breaching standards of decency,” the council concluded.

MAIJA PAIKKALA – STT
MATTHEW PARRY – HT