With strict guidelines - and, in Sweden’s case, an outright ban on
advertising directly to children - the Scandinavian countries are
campaigning for tighter controls throughout Europe, Meg Carter reports
As Europe moves towards a single media and communications market, one
region is attempting to hold back the tide. Scandinavian governments,
led by Sweden, are pushing for stricter regulations concerning
advertising and, in particular, TV advertising to children.
Advertising to under-12s on TV in Sweden is banned under the Radio
Broadcasting Act. In Denmark, guidelines on advertising to children on
radio and TV have been tightened. In Norway, advertising directly to
under-14s is not permitted and ads are banned around children’s
programmes. Finland also imposes stricter rules than other European
Union states, although it remains the most lenient of Scandinavian
countries.
The common factor uniting the national media industries in these
countries is the relatively recent introduction of commercial TV. In
Sweden, for example, it was not introduced until March 1992. Scandinavia
represented the final frontier for commercial TV in Europe and today,
many local restrictions go beyond the European Parliament’s Television
Without Frontiers directive, which has just completed its second
reading.
The premise of the directive, as with the Green Paper on Commercial
Communications, which is also intended to facilitate a single European
media and communications market, is that member nations should operate
common laws and regulatory standards. Sweden, however, has been lobbying
hard for the power to legislate against channels broadcasting into it
from outside.
It is hardly surprising Sweden is taking such a tough line. Five years
ago, the country introduced a national law banning advertising to
children under 12. ‘This is underpinned by a widespread acceptance in
both government and the general population that there is a moral basis
for the ban,’ the World Federation of Advertisers’ spokesperson, Karen
Garside, explains.
Along with the Danish government, Sweden has been trying to persuade the
EU to adopt stricter laws Europe-wide. However, Swedish attempts to
persuade others to follow its lead were thwarted in September when the
European Court of Justice considered the De Agostini case. The Italian
publisher, De Agostini Forlag AB, had appealed to the court against a
fine imposed on its Swedish office following the appearance of an ad on
TV3 for the children’s magazine, All About Dinosaurs. The courts backed
up the EU’s Television Without Frontiers directive that ‘prevents a
member state from taking action against television advertisements
broadcast from another member state’.
The court ruled that Sweden must accept advertising to children
broadcast from the UK by TV3, providing that the broadcast service and
its advertising conformed to local laws in the country of origin - in
this particular case, codes laid down by the Independent Television
Commission.
‘Because Swedish commercial broadcasters have never been able to
advertise to under-12s, the fact that TV3 can do so has become a topic
for public debate - not least with the domestic commercial station,
TV4,’ says the ITV Association’s controller for corporate affairs, Sue
Eustace.
Other nations breathed a sigh of relief when TV3’s case was upheld. But
the bandwagon is still rolling. At a European level, the Swedish
government has persuaded the European Commission to commit to studying
the need for tougher rules. And three months ago, the Danish government
called for a price hike for children’s TV ads, trebling the cost to
reduce the volume on air.
Peter Brockdorff, media director of Leo Burnett Denmark, explains that
there is no specific legislation preventing advertising to children on
Danish TV. This autumn, however, Denmark’s cultural minister confirmed
plans to limit the volume of children’s advertising on Danish TV by
calling for a price hike. The commercial channel, TV2 Reklame,
reluctantly agreed in the hope this will help diffuse the row.
Children’s advertising has become a political issue. Brockdorff notes:
‘It is being talked about in Danish media. Some of our political parties
are even proposing a total ban.’
Back in Sweden, the home-based commercial broadcaster, TV4, is
negotiating with Sweden’s government over the terms and conditions for
its licence renewal, including future licence fee payments. The
broadcaster is being asked to pay more, yet claims its hands are tied
with commercial revenue curbed by local legislation.
Tony Pearson, managing director of MediaCom Norge, believes the current
situation has contributed to TV’s stagnant share of advertising. ‘There
has been little growth in total advertising spend for some time,’ he
says. ‘Commercial TV’s share has stood still at 20 per cent of total
revenue. This is way behind normal in developed countries.’
Concern rests not just on restrictions affecting advertising to kids,
but on commercial minutage, he explains. Ten per cent of transmission
time - or six minutes an hour - is allocated to ads. However, unlike
other countries where this can be averaged across 24 hours, Swedish
broadcasters must maintain the same proportion of ads in both peak-time
and off-peak, which decreases the ratings point inventory available for
sale.
Whether this is down to a national mistrust of advertising or the entire
medium of television, it’s hard to say. Consumer research proves the
Swedes are among the lightest TV viewers in Europe.
One cultural factor is the Swedes’ preference for the printed word over
the visual image. As important, however, is dissatisfaction with
domestic TV output. Scandinavians take pride in their intellectual
response to the written word and are wary of TV’s use of emotional
response for effect. This situation is only made worse by the Catch 22
position commercial broadcasters find themselves in: unable to maximise
their revenue, they lack funds to reduce capital costs to make TV more
attractive to advertisers and boost programme budgets to make
advertising more effective.
TV advertisers are now being warned by their agencies to ensure their
creative work matches Scandinavian consumer tastes. The narrative style
of Grey International’s award-winning commercial for the Scandinavian
airline, SAS, is a case in point, its agency claims. Content rather than
style for style’s sake remains king.
