The new guidelines extend into the digital sphere the commitments made by the industry in January 2006, to not directly target children under the age of 12 in its advertising on TV, radio, in print or online, and to not offer products for sale in primary schools across the EU27.
While the original commitments covered all forms of advertising in principle, avoiding marketing to children in the ‘digisphere’ always proved more difficult to self-regulate and monitor in practice. New technologies and growing marketing experience in the area have now allowed the industry to define tangible and verifiable steps to ensure compliance, and to meet Unesda’s ultimate aim of ensuring control remains with parents and caregivers.
“These new guidelines recognise that digital communications on the internet play an increasingly important role in the marketing mix of our non-alcoholic beverage brands,” said Unesda president, Luis Bach. “These guidelines apply to all digital marketing communications media purchasing in Europe, as well as to all brand and corporate sites.”
Signatories to the Unesda commitment in the area of Digital Marketing Communications will ensure that internet sites, content and related technologies are designed for visitors over the age of 12. They will apply the minimum 50% over-12 audience threshold to all placements online, and will only advertise on third party sites accordingly. They also commit to use independently audited data to confirm that site traffic meets these criteria and will brief their agencies accordingly.
As with the original Unesda commitments that were audited for compliance by third parties, including PriceWaterhouseCoopers, this commitment will be independently verified in collaboration with a representative industry body.
The new guidelines have been signed by seven Unesda corporate members:
Commenting on the initiative, Stephen Loerke of the World Federation of Advertisers said: “We welcome the Unesda initiative. It recognises the importance of ensuring that self-regulation remains effective and relevant for digital marketing communications.”
Source: Unesda
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