HFSS TV advertisements finding the right balance

15 July 2009

When Ofcom introduced restrictions on the scheduling and content of TV ads for products that are high in fat, salt or sugar (HFSS) one of its main objectives was to reduce attempts to persuade children, through the amount and content of HFSS TV ads, to demand and consume HFSS products.  Ofcom’s interim review suggests that the restrictions are achieving that objective: the number of HFSS TV ads seen by children has dramatically reduced and certain content techniques, such as the use of celebrities popular with children – a technique historically common in HFSS TV ads – have been banned.

In a recent letter to Government, BCAP has noted those findings and looks ahead to Ofcom’s full review in 2010 when the overall effect and, ultimately, the success of the rules will be judged.  High rates of compliance with the new rules will not be the only measure of success: the final review must also balance the intended health benefits of scheduling restrictions against the impact on the revenue of TV broadcasters; the outcome may determine if the HFSS rules have struck the right balance!  Read the detail of BCAP’s assessment of Ofcom’s interim review.

The Cross-Government Obesity Strategy, Healthy Weight, Healthy Lives invited BCAP to take account of Ofcom’s interim review of the rules governing TV ads for products high in fat, salt or sugar (HFSS).  BCAP’s consideration of the interim review’s findings is presented below.

Ofcom’s interim review, which was published in December 2008, covered the effectiveness of the HFSS restrictions in:  

• reducing the amount of HFSS product advertising seen by children;
• tempering the impact on broadcasting revenues and 
• proscribing the use, in HFSS food and drink product advertisements, of advertising techniques considered to appeal to children.   

Ofcom examined the techniques that are proscribed by BCAP’s rules from being used in TV ads for HFSS products on the basis that those techniques would be likely to appeal to children aged 4 to15 years old.  Ofcom reported a decrease between 2005 and 2008 in the use of those techniques (licensed characters, celebrities, promotions and health claims) in food and drink product ads that were seen by children.  Consideration of the economic impact of the HFSS restrictions on broadcasters is a matter for Ofcom.

Ofcom’s interim findings recorded that children saw around 34% less HFSS product advertising in 2007/8 than in 2005 and 63% less HFSS product advertising in children’s airtime.  Those figures should be higher in Ofcom’s final review because, by 2010, it will be able to assess the impact of all of BCAP’s scheduling rules for HFSS product advertising, including the rule preventing HFSS product advertising on children’s channels, which came into force this January.  Ofcom’s final review will, therefore, provide a fuller picture of the effect of the HFSS product ad rules.

The ASA undertook a Compliance Survey in July 2008 to measure compliance with BCAP’s content rules for HFSS product ads.  Of the 209 TV ads assessed in the Survey, only one breached BCAP’s rules on HFSS product advertising.  A similarly high level of compliance was recorded in an earlier ASA Compliance Survey in 2007, all TV ads assessed complied with the then newly-introduced HFSS product advertising rules.    

Conclusion

BCAP considers that the evidence presented in Ofcom’s interim review suggests the rules on TV ads for HFSS products are effective, given that the amount of HFSS advertising seen by children has decreased, as has the use in HFSS product ads of techniques likely to appeal to children.  The high compliance rates reported in the ASA’s Compliance Surveys also indicate the rules are effective.  Mindful of the Better Regulation Principles, and particularly that regulation should be proportionate, transparent and targeted where it is needed, BCAP does not propose changes to the HFSS product advertising rules on the basis of Ofcom’s interim findings.  Nevertheless, BCAP looks forward to Ofcom’s final review of the HFSS product advertising restrictions in 2010, with a view to considering if its conclusions merit changes to the HFSS rules.