Background

Rule 32.2.1 of The UK Code of Broadcast Advertising (The BCAP Code) states that alcohol ads should not be shown in or around programmes commissioned for, principally targeted at or likely to appeal particularly to audiences below the age of 18 years.

In practice, programmes commissioned for or principally targeted at under-18s are identifiable by their content. Programmes likely to appeal particularly to under-18s are not so easy to identify.

Broadcast Committee of Advertising Practice (BCAP) guidance recommends the use of audience indexing, a statistical tool, to determine the representation of children in relation to the audience as a whole. BCAP guidance states that an alcohol restriction should be applied in programmes where the 10- to 15-year-olds audience, indexed against the total audience of all individuals over four years old, produces an index of 120 or more. An index of 120 would mean that 10- to 15-year-olds are 20% over-represented in the programme audience compared to the audience as a whole.

Audience indexing can be used as a tool for forecasting prospective audiences using historical data. An index over 120, when looked at retrospectively, is not necessarily indicative of a breach of the Code. The test is whether the broadcaster used the predictive tools available to schedule advertising with reasonable thoroughness and care.

The ASA Compliance team received research data from Ofcom about television programmes that contained centre-break alcohol advertisements in Q4 2012. This research was based on Broadcasters' Audience Research Board (BARB) data for this period and showed ads where the 10- to 15-year-olds audience, indexed against the audience of individuals over four years old, produced an index of 120 or higher.

Ofcom commissioned this research as part of a review into children's exposure to alcohol advertising on television. Ofcom passed this information to the ASA to assess whether the data indicated breaches of Rule 32.2.1 of the BCAP Code. The ASA commissioned further data for February, March and April 2013.

Ad description

An alcohol ad was broadcast on Comedy Central/Comedy Central+1 during the film Stuart Little 3: Call of the Wild, an animated film about a mouse, which was transmitted at 3.30pm/4.30pm on Saturday 8 December 2012.

Issue

The ASA Compliance team challenged whether it was appropriate to schedule an alcohol ad in Stuart Little 3: Call of the Wild because the film appeared to be commissioned for and principally directed at audiences below the age of 18 years.

Response

Paramount UK Partnership (Comedy Central) agreed that the film was principally directed at audiences below the age of 18 years.

They said that an alcohol ad was scheduled in the film due to a systems error.

Ads on Comedy Central are sold and scheduled by a third-party company. Comedy Central amended the programme schedule to include the film two days before transmission, but the updated schedule did not load on the third-party's system.

Comedy Central said that alcohol ads had been restricted in the four subsequent broadcasts of the film and that their automated workflows and processes had been checked to ensure this did not happen again.

Assessment

Upheld

The ASA noted Comedy Central's comments and understood that the ad had been broadcast in Stuart Little 3: Call of the Wild as the result of an error.

We were concerned, however, that an alcohol ad was broadcast in a film principally directed at audiences below the age of 18 years and concluded that this scheduling breached BCAP Code rule  32.2.1 32.2.1 alcoholic drinks containing 1.2% alcohol or more by volume (see rule 32.4.7)  (Scheduling of Television and Radio Advertisements, Under-18s).

Action

Alcohol ads must not appear in programmes principally directed at audiences below the age of 18 years. We told Comedy Central to ensure they took more care when scheduling alcohol ads in the future.

BCAP Code

32.1     32.2     32.2.1     32.2.1    


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