Just one complaint makes a difference
Receiving a brightly coloured, bulging envelope, most of us would be curious about what’s inside. Imagine, then, the delight for 21-month-old Ryan and his four-year-old sister who discover such an envelope in the morning post and rip it open to find that the bulge is a sweet.
Imagine too the horror for their mother, who upon hearing screams, runs to find Ryan turning a pale shade of blue with a lozenge stuck in his throat – a promotional gift from mobile phone company Vodafone. ‘I had spent so much time making sure the house is toddler friendly, only for something to arrive through the door as a gimmick,’ explains Mrs Richardson, whose concern that it could happen to another child was so strong that she contacted the ASA. The inclusion of the lozenge with the mailing was irresponsible, she believed; because regardless of the fact the envelope was personally addressed to an adult in the household, it could and did so easily fall into the hands of children. ‘Small children can’t read, they are just curious,’ she explains.
The complaint was promptly taken on by the ASA, who were quick to reassure Mrs Richardson that the matter would be investigated. Indeed, the complaint was upheld, with the focus on the Code’s specific rules for children: that the packaging could be easily accessed by children; and the Sales and Promotions Code, that advises promoters to make all reasonable efforts to ensure their promotions are safe.
Mrs Richardson welcomed the ruling and subsequent local media coverage, hoping that parents would now be forewarned about this form of advertising. Vodafone have now agreed not to use this approach again in the future.
Related Codes:
- 27.2 The sales promotion rules are designed primarily to protect the public but they also apply to trade promotions and incentive schemes and to the promotional elements of sponsorships. They regulate the nature and administration of promotional marketing techniques. Those techniques generally involve providing a range of direct or indirect additional benefits, usually on a temporary basis, designed to make goods or services more attractive to purchasers. The rules do not apply to the routine, non-promotional, distribution of products or to product extensions, for example the suitability of one-off editorial supplements (be they in printed or electronic form) to newspapers and magazines.
- 33.1
Applies up to 31 August 2007
Promotions with prizes including competitions,
prize draws and instant win offers are subject to legal restrictions.
Applies from 1 September 2007
Promoters should take legal advice before embarking on promotions with prizes,
including competitions, prize draws, instant win offers and premium-payment promotions,
to ensure that the mechanisms involved do not make them unlawful lotteries
(see the Gambling Act 2005 in Great Britain or the Betting, Gaming, Lotteries and Amusements
(Northern Ireland) Order 1985 in Northern Ireland).
- 47.2 Marketing communications addressed to, targeted at or featuring children should contain nothing that is likely to result in their physical, mental or moral harm:
- a) they should not be encouraged to enter strange places or talk to strangers. Care is needed when they are asked to make collections, enter schemes or gather labels, wrappers, coupons and the like
- b) they should not be shown in hazardous situations or behaving dangerously in the home or outside except to promote safety. Children should not be shown unattended in street scenes unless they are old enough to take responsibility for their own safety. Pedestrians and cyclists should be seen to observe the Highway Code
- c) they should not be shown using or in close proximity to dangerous substances or equipment without direct adult supervision. Examples include matches, petrol, certain medicines and household substances as well as certain electrical appliances and machinery, including agricultural equipment
- d) they should not be encouraged to copy any practice that might be unsafe for a child.