17/06/2010

Code of Self-Regulation for the advertising of food products directed at minors

• According to a study ordered by the PAOS Code Monitoring Commission, chaired by the Spanish Agency for Food Safety and Nutrition, compliance with standards of the PAOS Code of Self-Regulation for the Advertising of Food Products directed at minors has shown an improvement of 91% over the last five years, and the number of code breaches among companies signed up to the Code has fallen by 98.8% (91% in the case of non-signatory companies).
• The study also concludes that the Code has had a positive “knock-on” effect among non-signatory companies (with a 44.8% reduction in breaches in their adverts), which tend to comply with the Code’s guidelines, not only improving the advertising of companies signed up to the PAOS Code, but also of those who have not.
• To date, 36 companies have signed up to the PAOS Code, representing 94.29% of spending on television advertising of food and drink directed at children. Furthermore, in September 2009, the television companies also signed up to the Code.

The PAOS Code, the Code of Self-Regulation for the Advertising of Food Products directed at minors, is the key to more responsible advertising. That is the main conclusion of the study “The influence of PAOS in the control of children’s advertising. Report on the impact of the Code from 2005-2009 on advertising directed at children up to the age of 12”, prepared by Villafañe & Associates, under the direction of Justo Villafañe, Professor at the Universidad Complutense, which was presented this morning during the IV NAOS Convention.

The study concludes that the PAOS compliance index has improved by 91% in the last five years as results show that the number of adverts unacceptable to PAOS has declined and that companies signed up to PAOS have reduced their incompliance by 98.8% (91% in the case of companies not signed up).

Furthermore, the study has shown that the Code has had a positive “knock-on” effect among non-signatory companies (with a 44.8% reduction in breaches in their adverts), which tend to comply with the Code’s guidelines, not only improving the advertising of companies signed up to the PAOS Code, but also of those who have not.

 

 

Other Conclusions

The study also analyses the improvements made in specific aspects of the PAOS Code. In the case of eliminating adverts which directly call for the acquisition of a product or which urge children to persuade their parents to buy it, whilst in 2004 32.7% (35 cases) of adverts made such a call, by 2009 only 4.2% (3 cases) continued to do so. Furthermore, these three campaigns involved advertisers who had not signed up to the PAOS Code.

Another of the PAOS Code’s commitments is not to use celebrities. Whilst in 2004 14.9% of adverts (16 cases) used celebrities, by 2009 there were only two such cases (1.4%), again involving companies who had not signed up to the code.

Finally, the PAOS Code sets out the obligation of advertisers who have signed up to the Code, prior to broadcasting food and drink adverts directed at children, to apply to Autocontrol for a report on their acceptability under the PAOS Code. In the last five years 1,800 adverts have been analysed prior to seeing the light of day.

The study was ordered by the PAOS Code Monitoring Commission, currently made up of AESAN (Spanish Agency for Food Safety and Nutrition), the Council for Consumers and Users, the Spanish Federation of Food and Drink Industries (FIAB), the Spanish Association of Advertisers (AEA) and the Association for the Self-Regulation of Commercial Advertising (Autocontrol).

Assessment Methodology for PAOS 2005-2009

In order to assess the effectiveness of PAOS in achieving its aims a new methodology was designed, which combines quantitative and qualitative techniques: a check on adverts broadcast during the sampling period (first 2 weeks of May 2004 – first 2 weeks of May 2009) and a study of opinions of the three groups involved: advertising companies, consumers and administrations.

The total sample saw 1,193 food and drink adverts analysed, of which 177 were directed at the under-12s, compiled by TNS Media Intelligence and broadcast on national television stations.

In the study, 25 of the most relevant PAOS Code guidelines have been grouped together under 6 headings: healthy habits, social acceptance and use of celebrities, generation of expectations, pressure to buy, clarity and veracity of the information, safety and non-violence.

Almost 100% of advertising expenditure

To date, 36 companies, representing 94.29% of expenditure on food and beverage advertising aimed at children, have signed up to the PAOS Code. It was set up by FIAB in 2005 as part of the Ministry for Health and Social Policy’s NAOS Strategy (Strategy for Nutrition, Physical Activity and the Prevention of Obesity) set up by the Spanish Agency for Food Safety and Nutrition (AESAN) with the aim of raising public awareness of the health problems associated with obesity, and supporting all initiatives which contribute towards the goal of all citizens, and especially children and young people, adopting healthy habits and lifestyles, mainly through a healthy diet and regular physical activity.

The Code has three control mechanisms: “consultation with Autocontrol prior to the broadcast of adverts”; complaints to the Autocontrol Panel and the Monitoring Commission made up of representatives from the Ministry for Health and Social Policy, Consumers’ Associations, the food and drink industry and the Association of Advertisers.

Against this background, the Ministry for Health and Social Policy and the main national and regional television companies signed an agreement in September 2009 by which they agreed to adhere to FIAB’s PAOS Code, and made a commitment to work together towards compliance.