ASA Publishes 100 Children Report Follow-Up

The United Kingdom’s Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), released a follow-up to its 100 Children Report. According to the company, there has been a significant improvement in advertisers’ efforts to prevent online gambling ads from being displayed to children.

The ASA published the original 100 Children Report in November last year, highlighting the prominence and impact of gambling advertisements on children. The report sought to understand how often children see age-restricted content when browsing the web.

To compile the original report, the ASA observed almost a hundred children and the ads they were bombarded with over a 7-day period. Out of a total of 11,424 ads, 435 were related to age-restricted content. Some of the breaches, the ASA had concluded, were related to breaches in the advertising rules.

The Findings Were Favorable

The ASA has now undertaken a follow-up with advertisers, agencies and platforms, reporting key findings in its 100 Children Report – enforcement and engagement report. The advertising authority explored the steps taken by the advertisers that had violated the codes to prevent age-restricted ads from being displayed to children.

The ASA reported favorable findings, saying that the majority of advertisers’ and agencies’ efforts were in line with its CAP Guidance on Targeting Age-restricted Ads Online.

The ASA worked closely with companies that had previously violated the codes and found out that most of the violations were related to gambling or liquor ads. It addressed the cases and asked the advertisers to provide a written assurance that they will improve their protocols.

However, the ASA kept the anonymity of advertisers that had breached its rules during the 100 Children Report.

The regulator promised to continue pushing the boundaries of monitoring and research into online ads. The regulator promised to reflect on the results of the latest survey and use the data to drive further developments.

The full report is available on the authority’s official website.

The UK Is Adamant on Properly Regulating Ads

Speaking of gambling advertisements, the UK Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP) Code and the British Code of Advertising Practice (BCAP) recently released technical updates to their rules on lottery advertising. The regulators found out that some of the policies were not explained well enough and needed to be reworded for clarity.

Earlier this month, Ladbrokes came under fire by the ASA over a tweet featuring the boxer and internet celebrity Jake Paul. The ad was deemed “irresponsible” by the regulator because of its appeal to younger customers.