August 23, 2017

At the start of June, the Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP) issued guidance on how internet-based targeting can be used to help reduce children’s exposure to age-restricted ads online (read our comment on this here). This was the latest instalment of guidance aimed at helping advertisers, particularly those marketing age-restricted products such as gambling, to place advertisements appropriately.

Directing advertising to those over the age restriction (over 18s in the case of gambling advertising) can be achieved using various methods, CAP said. Both audience composition of the media and the content around which the marketing communication appears must be considered.

To assess audience composition, CAP suggested that marketers examined the media in advance of the age-restricted ad being placed, to evaluate whether such ads were being placed:

• in or around media that are obviously directed at the protected age category; and
• in other media where the protected age category makes up more than 25% of the audience.

If media was of more “general appeal” then it would be the responsibility of the marketer to demonstrate that the relevant age category comprised 25% or less of the total audience.

Whilst this guidance was aimed at non-broadcast media, we have today seen the ASA publish an adjudication using this methodology in respect of a gambling ad aired on the radio.

X Factor Games

Two radio ads for The X Factor Games were aired at breakfast time on two separate radio stations; one was Wave 105 and the other Absolute 80s. The ad was repeated on Wave 105 during the afternoon at around 3pm. The ad contained the theme tune of the X Factor TV show and the voice-over commonly associated with the programme. Several complainants challenged whether:

1. the ads were irresponsible because they were likely to appeal particularly to under 18s; and
2. the ads had been scheduled appropriately, as children might be listening.

A data driven response

In assessing whether the Rule 17.4.5 of the BCAP Code had been breached (i.e. whether the ad was likely to be of particular appeal to under-18s, especially by reflecting or being associated with youth culture), the ASA examined official BARB data to see whether the fact that the ads in question referenced the X Factor TV show meant that the ads appealed more strongly to under-18s than they did to over-18s.

Findings

• Although the ads were for the online casino and slots website, the X Factor Games, the fact that they featured the theme tune and voice-over from the X Factor TV show led the ASA to conclude that listeners would associate the ads with the TV show.
• Whilst BARB data showed that many under-18s watched the TV show, the TV show was, however, never of proportionately greater appeal to under-18s than it was to the viewing population as a whole. The ASA concluded that references to the X Factor in a gambling ad per se, were unlikely to breach the BCAP Code.
• In consideration of the specific elements taken from the TV show in the two ads, the theme tune and voice-over, the ASA decided that these were generic features no more likely to appeal more strongly to under-18s than they would to over-18s given the TV BARB data. Further, the ASA observed that the ads didn’t contain other content, such as specific X Factor artists or songs, which were likely to appeal more strongly to under-18s.

Scheduling issues also quashed by data

When deciding whether the ads were in breach of BCAP Rule 32.2.2 (i.e. whether this was an ad for gambling that had been inappropriately scheduled as it was in or adjacent to programmes commissioned for, or principally directed at, children), the ASA looked to the RAJAR data for the two radio stations. This indicated that over 18s made up 89% of listeners to Wave 105 between 6am and 10am, 86% of listeners to the station between 3pm and 7pm and 96% of listeners to Absolute 80s. This meant that only a small proportion of listeners to the programming in which the ads appeared were under 18. Further, having examined the programming content of both radio stations (one 80s music and the other generally presenter-led news and entertainment), the ASA considered that neither station was likely to be of particular appeal to under 18s, therefore, there was no inappropriate scheduling and no breach of this BCAP Rule.

A lesson for other media

The investigation of this ad by the ASA only goes to strengthen the requirement for advertisers (and the publishers they use) to have data which substantiates who the audiences are that receive their advertising. This case demonstrates well the need for gambling advertisers to have accurate audience data for the channels in which the age-restricted advertising is included, especially when the media used is of more general appeal, and regardless of whether the ad itself is of particular appeal to under 18s.