For all advertisements respondents found that the product was the main factor when determining who an advertisement is directed primarily towards . Respondents believed an advertisement was more likely to be aimed at children if :
• the advertisement contained animation ;
• featured a child ;
• had design elements ( colours and music ) which would appeal to children ; or
• had themes which would appeal to children .
These factors largely align with factors that are outlined in the AANA ’ s Practice Note for the Code , which the Board currently uses when making determinations .
Section 2.4 Sexualisation
Two of the advertisements shown to respondents were further considered under Section 2.4 of the Code . While the Board did not originally consider these under the Code , the advertisements were considered under similar provisions of the AANA Code of Ethics .
The perceptions of the general community for both these advertisements were that they breached Section 2.4 of the Code . This aligned with the Board ’ s decisions for only one of the advertisements .
Section 2.7 Parental authority
The general community found both advertisements considered under Section 2.7 to breach the Code . This was in line with the Board ’ s decision for one of the advertisements . The second advertisement was unable to be compared as the Board had not made a decision under this provision .
RCMI
Respondents were asked to consider two advertisements under the provisions of the AFGC RCMI provisions . Board decisions were in line with community perceptions for one of the advertisements , and differed for the other . A website had been considered by the Board to feature messaging which encouraged good dietary habits and physical activity , but was seen by the general community to not contain such messaging .
Products of principal appeal to children
In the qualitative stage of the research , 10 images of different products were shown to the two focus groups . They were asked who they thought the product was targeted towards . The decisions of respondents were in line with the Board ’ s decisions for six of the products , mixed for two products and differed from the Board for the remaining two . For both of these remaining products , respondents had found the two products to be targeted towards children , where the Board had previously determined that they were not .
Awareness of ASB and the Board
Unprompted awareness of the ASB was low , with only 5 per cent of respondents nominating ASB or the Board as someone they would contact with a complaint about advertising . Prompted awareness from a list of possibilities was much higher , with 42 per cent of respondents indicating they would contact the Board and 36 per cent nominating ASB .
Only 5 per cent of respondents stated that they had ever made a formal complaint about advertising , which is consistent with previous research .
Over three-quarters ( 77 per cent ) of respondents reported that the role of the ASB was important .
Section 2.14 Food and beverages
One advertisement was considered by respondents under this section of the Code . Both the general public and the Board ’ s decisions were in line for this advertisement , finding that it did not encourage or promote an inactive lifestyle , or encourage or promote unhealthy eating or drinking habits .
Review of Operations 2015
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