Number Of Gambling Advertisements Seen By Children Falls, ASA Reveals
The number of gambling advertisements seen by children has fallen, according to the Advertising Standards Authority.
New figures released by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has revealed that the number of children viewing gambling advertisements has dropped from 4.4 in 2013 to 3.2 per week in 2018. According to the ASA, the figures represent 2.2% of all television ads viewed by children last year, similar figures to those observed since 2014.
The ASA’s new survey found that children’s exposure to television advertisements decreased by 35.4% between 2008 and 2018. In 2017, minors viewed an average of 161.2 ads per week compared to 141.9 ads per week in 2018. The report also revealed that gambling advertisements made up less than 2% of all the television ads children saw between 2008 and 2017, a percentage that rose to 2.2% in 2018.
The Children’s Exposure To Age-Restricted TV Ads: 2018 Update also examined children’s exposure to other advertisements. This includes television advertisements for alcohol which, between 2008 and 2018, halved from an average of 2.8 ads per week to 1.1 ads per week in 2018. It had previously peaked in 2010 at an average of 3.2 ads per week.
ASA’s study also noted a decrease in children’s exposure to food and soft drinks advertisements over the ten years of 2008 and 2018. During this time, children’s exposure to these ads fell from an average of 35.5 ads per week in 2008 to around 17.8 ads per week in 2018.
What They Say
Guy Parker, the Chief Executive for the ASA, said in a statement: “Our priority is to ensure children are protected and we’re pleased that there’s a clear reduction in children’s exposure to TV ads for HFSS products and consistently low alcohol ad exposure levels.”
He continued, saying: “We’ve also policed the rules online through our proactive monitoring work, which uses technology to find out which ads children are seeing, followed by swift action against online advertisers who have broken the rules.”
The news comes just days after a report from Gambleaware titled Skins In The Game revealed that over 1,000 young people aged between 11 and 24 across the United Kingdom found gambling features such as loot boxes and skin betting to be ‘highly addictive”.
Gambleaware’s report sparked concern from the charity Royal Society for Public Health (RSPH) which urged the new Conservative government to introduce legislation to regulate the gambling features or outright ban from them being featured in video games in the country.