Teletubbies vs mighty dollar

Does the young television audience exist to be instructed and entertained or targeted by marketers - or both? MATHEW DEARNALEY examines the issues.

Make no mistake - children are in the crossfire of a battle over freedom of "commercial speech."

The fight is apparently an "everlasting" one, in which those who would exhort us to spend our hard-earned dollars on their indispensable products "can never sleep, otherwise the freedom is lost."

That was the message issued to the World Federation of Advertisers' congress in Korea in 1999 by New Zealand's delegate, Advertising Standards Authority director Glen Wiggs.

Mr Wiggs' organisation, charged with upholding standards aimed at delivering socially responsible advertising, makes no bones about including children in its unending struggle.

In this, it invokes the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, of which Article 13 includes freedom to "seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds."

The authority's code of practice for advertising to children says this gives our junior citizens the right to receive advertisements along with other information.

On the other hand, the authority is quick to emphasise that there are various fetters to that right, in another part of the UN convention that calls for appropriate guidelines for the protection of children from information that might harm their welfare.

The authority's challenge is to persuade advertisers and media outlets to regulate themselves rather than wait to have it done to them by state legislators, a distinct possibility under newly reinstated Broadcasting Minister Marian Hobbs.

Sweden has banned all television advertising aimed at children under 12 and is pushing to have this extended to the rest of the European Union.

Which is why a move last week by our two main free-to-air television companies to tighten voluntary guidelines for advertising to children, almost half of whom spend more than three hours a day in front of the goggle box, was not entirely unexpected.

Children seem to be blitzed by television advertising these days. How will the guidelines curb this?

The guidelines, which cover TV2 and TV3, are not new. Since 1995 they have limited the volume of advertising in programmes aimed at children aged from 5 to 13, and also provide for ad-free time zones during programmes for pre-schoolers.

There is no further reduction in store, despite the efforts of parents' groups, although Television New Zealand and TV3's Canadian owner, CanWest, have agreed to keep this issue under annual review.

What is new, though, is a clause restricting the number of times advertisements for particular products can be screened during children's viewing sessions.

The agreement does not cover the other main free-to-air channels, Television One or TV4, as neither has programmes aimed specifically at children.

How much children's advertising is allowed?

Unlike many countries such as Australia, there is no law here restricting the amount of advertising on our television channels other than on Sunday mornings. But the Government does have a policy of working towards banishing commercials around children's programmes.

The self-imposed guidelines prohibit any advertising, sponsorship publicity or prize offers during programmes for pre-schoolers for five hours a week on TV2 and for 10 hours weekly on TV3.

For TV2, these ad-free hours are from 8.35 am to 9.35 am from Monday to Friday. For TV3, no advertising is allowed from 8.30 am to 9.30 am, or from 2.30 pm to 3.30 pm Monday to Friday.

What about school-aged children?

Paid advertising in broadcasts for children aged 5 to 13 is limited to 10 minutes an hour, with another two minutes allowed for in-house promotions such as advance publicity for other programmes.

This compares with what Television Broadcasters' Council director Bruce Wallace says is an average of 12 minutes an hour of paid advertisements screened by each channel at other broadcasting times.

For TV2, the restricted advertising times are from 7 am to 8.35 am and from 3.30 pm to 5 pm from Monday to Friday, and from 6 am to 9 am on Saturday.

TV3, which screens more children's programmes but with a heavy diet of imported cartoons, restricts advertising from 6.30 am to 8.30 am and from 3.30 pm to 5 pm on Monday to Friday, and from 6.30 am to 9.30 am on Saturdays.

Advertising is banned on Sunday mornings.

What about the frequency of certain advertisements?

That seems to be a particular bugbear of parents who find that children pester them to buy heavily plugged products.

Advertisers' best efforts to secure brand recognition among young consumers will receive a setback in the new frequency restrictions.

These will prevent any ad being screened more than twice an hour on a particular channel, or more than three times within each children's programming period.

This has been welcomed by children's advocacy groups, even though they are disappointed the amount of overall advertising will not be cut.

Children's Media Watch president Betty Gilderdale, an Auckland children's author and former teacher, recalls watching a gimmicky pen being advertised four times in one half-hour programme.

"It was beamed in like brainwashing - that was totally unacceptable," she says.

Otago University marketing expert Dr Sarah Todd agrees that advertising pitched at children has become a lot more aggressive.

Advertisers hammering the messages at adults risk alienating them and turning them off products. But young children tend to enjoy repetition and have much higher boredom thresholds, she says.

But Mrs Gilderdale and the Christchurch-based Children's Television Foundation remain concerned that promotional material will not come under the advertising restrictions. This will allow firms to keep their brand names on high rotation, as sponsors of television programmes.

In TV3's morning cartoon zone on Friday, for example, a promotion for an evening movie sponsored by hamburger giant McDonald's was screened in the same two-minute advertising cluster as an advertisement for the company.

What about the content of children's advertisements?

These are covered by the Advertising Standards Authority's voluntary codes of practice, which recommend against advertisements portraying violence, using degrading or sexually suggestive images, or depicting toys realistic enough to be confused with weapons.

Advertisements should not urge children to ask their parents to buy particular products for them, and neither should they suggest to youngsters any feeling of inferiority or lack of social acceptance for not having such goodies.

Mr Wiggs says a new guideline was added in February in response to parental concern about ads for "treat" foods.

Advertisers should not encourage children to eat or drink these soon before bedtime or replace main meals with them.

But Children's Television Foundation president Popo Loua is concerned that there are still no warnings about possible health problems such as diabetes from over-indulgence in sweets and other foods of dubious nutritional value.

Mr Wiggs, conversely, expresses frustration that the law still prevents advertisers from explicitly promoting the benefits of healthy foods.

How many complaints does the standards authority receive about children's advertising?

In eight years until 1999, the authority received only 11 complaints in this area, of which it upheld four. But of the five complaints last year the authority upheld or approved the settlement of three of these.

Of last year's complaints, a Royal New Zealand Ballet television advertisement for gruesome depictions of vampires in kiddies' time was settled after being blamed on a programming error.

The authority upheld a complaint against a television advertisement said to portray anti-social behaviour by a fictitious rock singer. And a newspaper advertisement was deemed misleading for encouraging children to sign up for an internet service which had undeclared costs.

Children's Television Foundation secretary Tracey MacArthur is disappointed that a complaint, made by someone else, failed against an advertisement implying that a boy had traded his sister for Pokemon cards. The advertisement was deemed humorous by the authority, which said the child expressed contrition when found out by his mother.

But Tracey MacArthur says that while an 8-year-old might have seen humour in the ad, a 5-year-old might have taken it very seriously.

"There are a lot of hidden messages and stereotyping in advertisements," she says. "Children are disadvantaged - they haven't got the cognitive tools to counter advertising."

But isn't it up to parents to exercise the ultimate veto against advertising?

That might sound reasonable in theory, and Tracey MacArthur has some sympathy with a Television Broadcasters' Council view that it cannot be expected to act as surrogate parents. But there are many households in which both parents work long hours and do not have the time to constantly monitor the children's viewing.

Her foundation has distributed "media smart" kits in Canterbury and Westland that include screen diaries to encourage families to become more selective about what they watch.

What does the Government intend doing?

Labour promised before the election to promote, as a priority, the elimination of advertising around children's programmes.

Ms Hobbs has praised the tighter guidelines but remains keen on further steps to get rid of advertising during children's peak hours.

How much money is at stake?

Mr Wallace says advertising time limits cost the industry about $6 million a year and television companies would face a tough time maintaining children's programmes with further revenue cuts.

But the advocacy groups point to heavy financial support by New Zealand On Air, which spends almost $10 million a year on normal programming for children.

TVNZ will also be under Government pressure to provide for children under its proposed charter.

One senior advertising source questioned Mr Wallace's $6 million figure, saying television channels put a premium on children's advertising spots because of the reduced screening opportunities.

Where can we lodge complaints about breaches of the guidelines and codes?

* Complaints about the contents of ads should be addressed to the Advertising Standards Authority, PO Box 10-675, Well%ington, phone (04) 472-7852 or fax (04) 471-1785.

%* Complaints about breaches of the children's advertising guidelines should be made to the broadcasters concerned. Contact TV2 at PO Box 3819, Auckland, phone (09) 916-7002, or TV3 at Private Bag 92-624, Symonds St, Auckland, phone (09) 913-3344.