The ASA Chief Executive, Guy Parker, is today attending a roundtable meeting hosted by Prime Minister David Cameron to outline the further measures we are taking to ensure we listen to parents’ concerns as part of our ongoing commitment to protecting children.

We will be setting out our response to recommendations made in the Bailey Review, which called on the ASA to look at how we can do things better when it comes to giving parents a voice on advertising issues, particularly relating to inappropriate material that children may see or hear.

The commitments and actions we will outline are:

  • Tightening our approach to sexual imagery in outdoor advertising
    The ASA has issued a statement to the advertising industry that we will be taking a firmer approach to outdoor advertising that contains sexual imagery. The new two-tier approach will lead to a tighter approach overall and restricting imagery in locations where children are likely to see it, such as within 100m of schools.
  • Making sure parents’ voices are heard
    We have joined forces with UK media regulatory partners (Ofcom, ATVOD, BBC Trust BBFC, PCC, VSC) to launch ParentPort, a new website aimed at helping parents make their views heard on inappropriate programmes, adverts, products and services. ParentPort provides straightforward information on what parents can do if they have seen or heard something inappropriate for their children.
  • Schools engagement programme
    In 2012, we will be launching new educational materials, backed by an active programme to help parents and children understand advertising rules and the role of the ASA.
  • Researching the public's views
    We are currently commissioning full scale market research amongst the public, including parents, to help us gauge society's views on matters of harm and offence and what is appropriate for children to see.

ASA Chief Executive, Guy Parker, says: “We welcomed Reg Bailey’s recommendations and have already begun to implement them.  If advertisers use sexual imagery in outdoor ads, they are now more likely to face either a placement restriction or, in overt cases, an outright ban.  And we’re committed to further work to ensure that children continue to be protected.”

Read the ASA Chief Executive's statement to No.10

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