WASPA says no to cell ads for kids

16 Mar 2009

The Wireless Application Service Providers' Association of South Africa (WASPA) has set out clear television advertising regulations for its members in a bid to protect minors from exposure to inappropriate ads for cellular subscription services.

WASPA and the television broadcasters have ruled that no advertisements for any cellular content or subscription service may be flighted during children's television viewing times or during educational programmes. This has been supported by all major television broadcasters in South Africa, including M-Net/DStv, the SABC and e.tv.

Broadcaster guidelines and WASPA's Code of Conduct also restrict the times and media that WASPs may use to advertise services that contain PG-rated or adult content as well as the actual content that the ads may contain.

A hard line

Ilonka Gray, media monitor at WASPA, said: "We take a hard line on advertising to children in line with our goals of protecting kids from harmful content and promoting an ethical WASP industry."

The association's Code of Conduct aims to ensure that ads from WASPs do not contain objectionable and misleading material. The advertising rules commit WASPA members to ensuring that their advertising material does not contain any explicit sexual conduct as defined in the Films and Publications Act, unless it displayed in adult media.

Any age restrictions on the content the WASP is providing must be clearly marked and the service provide must have an Adult Verification System in place for access to that content or service.

No adult services

Each television broadcaster also has its own set of rules for the advertising of subscription services, but none will carry any advert for adult services (including dating and 'hot babes') during prime time (before 10pm) or any ads that contain explicitly violent or sexual content at any time of the day.

e.tv insists that all adult-content WASPs need to be members of the association and abide by the Code of Conduct before it will accept their ads. It only allows adult-content commercials to be shown in 18-rated movies, no matter what the time of the day.

"South Africa's broadcasters are to be commended for taking a tough stand on subscription service advertising in the interests of their younger viewers," said Gray. "We urge our members to consult their rules and WASPA's Code of Conduct before they even compile a new advert in their own interests and those of South Africa's youth."

The association's advertising rules can be viewed at: http://www.waspa.org.za/code/advert-rules.shtml. Should you believe a WASPA member has broken these rules, you can lodge a complaint by going to http://www.waspa.org.za/code/complaint.shtml and following the process outlined there.