Global food behemoth Nestlé said recently that it will voluntarily restrict marketing to kids under the age of 16, and that it would not partner with any influencer who is not an adult. “This standard will be applied to TV and online platforms, including social media and gaming ones, who have greater than 25% of their audience under 16 years old,” the firm, with a revenue of $95.73 billion in 2021 (India revenue in 2021 amounted to `147 billion), said. The country’s single largest advertiser Hindustan Unilever Limited has already announced it would stop marketing and advertising its range of foods and beverages to children under 16 from next year. Months back, Google said it would limit advertising capabilities of those targeting children, and also make changes to its products to limit kids’ exposure to explicit content, though it didn’t share a timeline for this.
These announcements come amid increased scrutiny on how foods and beverages companies market products high in salt, sugar and fat to young consumers. A recent United Nations report, ‘A Future for the World’s Children’, reveals that an average child is exposed to as many as 30,000 advertisements on television alone in a single year, with over $4.2 billion being spent on kids’ advertising worldwide in 2018.
Such concerns remain high in India, which is home to over 444 million children, representing one of the world’s largest child populations. However, the nation still lags many others when it comes to framing regulation related to ads that target kids, leaving it to corporations to practise self regulation. Quebec, Canada, Sweden, and Norway have already completely banned ads targeting kids, and other nations such as Australia, Belgium, and Germany have well-defined constraints.
The threat is borne out by surveys. According to a LocalCircles study, as many as 56% of Indian parents believe packaged food advertisements targeting kids are driving increased junk food consumption. Nearly 92% want government rules that prohibit brands from targeting kids.
The issue is this: “There is no advertisement code or a similar rule in India that is dedicated to regulating advertising to children on all platforms. However, various laws contain provisions that restrict/regulate certain types of advertisements directed at children,” says Pranav Srivastava, partner, Phoenix Legal.
For example, The Consumer Protection Act, 2019 and Guidelines for Prevention of Misleading Advertisements and Endorsements for Misleading Advertisements, 2022, put down restrictions on advertisers regarding commercials that condone or encourage dangerous behaviour or detrimental practices in kids, along with running advertisements related to junk food during programmes for them. “Similarly, the Cable TV Networks (Regulation) Act, 1995 and The Cable Television Networks Rules, 1994, also restrict certain types of advertisements that can endanger kids’ safety or promote unhealthy practices,” Srivastava adds.
The Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) has also framed certain guidelines for companies to follow. “There is a lot of research to show that often children may not be able to distinguish between the purpose of advertising, which is to sell something, versus other content which may be purely informative. Section 3.2 of the ASCI Code provides that advertisements addressed to children shall not contain anything, whether in illustration or otherwise, which might result in their physical, mental, or moral harm or which exploits their vulnerability,” says Manisha Kapoor, CEO and secretary general, ASCI. She adds that the body’s F&B guidelines also state that food advertising to kids should not disparage “good dietary practices”.
Violations are tracked by the body’s suo-motu tracking system and complaint management system, TARA. “Brands must observe a higher standard of social responsibility,” Kapoor states.
However, some of these rules, guidelines, and regulations are “too old and too scattered across various legislations and do not universally cover all aspects of harmful advertising to children and on all platforms”, says Phoenix Legal’s Srivastava. “For instance, they do not cater to changes such as the advent of the digital space,” he states.
Where some guidelines exist, it is difficult to pinpoint commercials that are targeted directly at children, says Samit Sinha, founder & managing partner, Alchemist Brand Consulting. “Any purchase has multiple decision-makers. The principle is that children who are vulnerable and easily influenced should not be targeted. If a company says they will not use children in their commercials, what is to stop them from using adult role models that kids look up to? There is no way to segregate the media. These moves are a noble endeavor but are difficult to enforce because of technicalities,” he adds. “A comprehensive and binding set of regulations must be considered by the authorities,” sums up Srivastava.