Playing by the rules – CAP and BCAP launch new Guidance for video games and films ads

22 July 2009

Government calls on the system 

In 2007, the Prime Minister asked Dr Tanya Byron to conduct a review into the risks to children from exposure to potentially harmful or inappropriate material on the internet and in video games. As part of her Review, Safer Children in a Digital World, she looked at the advertising of video games, its effect on children and the clarity of guidance to the industry.   

Dr Byron commented that she has been “impressed by the efforts that have been made to deliver responsible advertising to children through the ASA and the wider self-regulatory approaches”, and that she recognised the advertising industry has been proactive in putting a self-regulatory system in place to minimise the exposure of children to inappropriate products and ad content. 

She also urged the industry, though, that the responsible advertising of video games should be seen as one of the key mechanisms to minimise and manage potential risks to children and young people from playing video games that are not appropriate for their age. In her Call for Evidence, Dr Byron found that 42% of people believed the advertising industry should be more responsible in the marketing of video games to children and young people.   

The Review made two recommendations to the advertising self-regulatory system, specifically on its rules and guidance:  

• “… that the video games industry and the advertising industry should work together to ensure consistency of approach between advertising self-regulation and the video games classification systems” and  
• “… that the advertising and video game industries, and those responsible for the classification of video games should work together to produce CAP and BCAP guidance on the advertising of video games”.  

The Review also highlighted the “granularity” of codes and guidance relating to ads for video games and encouraged CAP and BCAP to introduce, during the Code Review, placement and scheduling restrictions on ads for age-rated video games.      

CAP and BCAP’s course of action  

CAP and BCAP agree that rules and guidance for the advertising industry must be clear and readily accessible to ensure that children are protected from advertising that could potentially harm or distress them. On that basis, the ASA, CAP and BCAP have done these things in response to Byron’s recommendations:  

• In 2008, the ASA conducted a Video Games Advertising Survey to assess the compliance rate of advertising for video games against the Codes.  
• In its Code Review consultation, BCAP proposed a new scheduling rule for ads for video games, which mirrors the scheduling restrictions already in place for ads for films and videos. The proposed rule would prevent video games carrying an 18+, 16+ or 15+ rating from being advertised in or adjacent to programmes commissioned for, principally directed at or likely to appeal particularly to audiences below the age of 16.  
• CAP and BCAP have compiled new Guidance, which is intended to help advertisers and media owners on both broadcast and non-broadcast ads for video games. The Guidance draws together all of CAP and BCAP’s existing guidance on ads for video games and films, as well as lessons from relevant ASA adjudications, to provide a useful, central source of information. The Guidance will also apply to ads for films because they too have the potential to breach the Advertising Codes through unsuitable scheduling or placement or through the content of the ad.  
• To assist the advertising industry further, CAP and BCAP will host an Advice:am seminar on video games and films ads on 15 September this year. The seminar will clarify the Codes’ requirements on ads for video games and films and to provide a forum for stakeholders to ask questions about those requirements.

CAP and BCAP have also, in line with Dr Byron’s suggestion, entered into a dialogue with the Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA), which has signalled its support for the Guidance.     

Targeted and proportionate  

In deciding how to respond to Dr Byron’s recommendations, CAP and BCAP were aware of the need to take targeted, transparent and proportionate action.

CAP and BCAP are confident that the rules in the Children sections of both the existing and proposed Codes, as well as the general rules on harm, offence and social responsibility, afford adequate protection to children from ads for video games that could harm or distress them.  CAP and BCAP have been careful to balance the concerns articulated in the Byron Review about children’s exposure to inappropriate advertising of video games against evidence that advertisers of those products are, in the main, complying with the rules.  

In 2008, the ASA’s Video Games Advertising Survey reported a compliance rate of over 99% for broadcast and non-broadcast video games ads.  The Survey concluded that the video games industry is advertising its products responsibly and in line with the Advertising Standards Codes; targeting its ads at appropriate audience age groups; and being sensitive to which images are suitable for inclusion in its ads.  

So, by launching new, consolidated Guidance, proposing a TV scheduling rule for video games ads based on the existing rule for ads for films, and by hosting an Advice:am seminar, CAP and BCAP are working with the industry to make sure the dos and don’ts of advertising video games and films are clear.  That way, CAP and BCAP can help ensure ads for video games and films remain responsible and that children are protected from potentially harmful or distressing ad content.