Posted: 14th September, 2011. Topics: advertising to children, Bailey Review, parenting, UNICEF report
Hello from Credos Bites,
A ban on advertising to children has once again been mooted following a leaked Number 10 memo, which considers an outright ban on all advertising to under-16s as a way of improving the Government’s standing with women, and the publication of a UNICEF report suggesting that the UK takes a leaf out of Sweden’s book by further restricting advertising to under-12s.
But Credos research for the Bailey Review earlier this year shows that removing children from the commercial world is not something parents in the UK want to see. Parents recognise that commercialisation is part of the world in which their children live, and that a world without advertising would not adequately prepare children for adulthood. Our findings are echoed in the final Review, Letting Children be Children, in which Reg Bailey states ‘We do not want to cut children off from the commercial world completely as we believe that it brings benefits’. A ban on advertising to children would therefore do little to help children cope with the commercial world once they become adults.
Credos supports a proportionate and responsible approach to advertising to children, and calls for future decisions around this sensitive issue to be based on solid and robust evidence.
