Adverts on foreign TV kids channels breach advertising codes

Ads on foreign TV stations transmitted in Ireland aimed at very young children have been found to breach Irish broadcasting codes.

A new report by the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI) identified 12 breaches of a code relating to the advertising of products and services to children aged 6 years and under by the children’s channel Nickleodeon during spot checks conducted in autumn 2014.

The BAI said it will raise the issue with the British TV regulator, Ofcom, because similar breaches were found the previous year.

Because of the recurrent nature of the finding, the BAI said it would be asking Ofcom to notify the stations about their non-compliance with the BAI’s children’s commercial communications code. Under an EU directive, the BAI is allowed to raise issues of non-compliance of its codes by foreign-based stations with other regulators.

Nickelodeon was not in compliance with part of the code requiring onscreen info for products aimed at children under 6 to be provided visually and verbally, for example, the requirement of certain toys to have batteries or that some products are sold separately.

Among the advertisers whose commercials were in breach of the code were Smyths Toys, My Little Pony, Hasbro, Fisher-Price, and Flair Emotive Pets.

Channels not licenced in Ireland but whose shows are either wholly are partially directed at Irish audiences

include Discovery, E4, Nick Jr, Sky News, Sky Sports, Dave, At the Races, MTV, and Channel 4.

The BAI examined advertising output of foreign channels targeted at Irish audiences in terms of their compliance with advertising codes — both general and relating to children.

It said spot checks on ads carried by foreign TV channels for alcohol products had identified no breaches of BAI codes.