Once again the Commercial Code for Alcohol (Advertising Code for Alcoholic Beverages) has been amended. All direct digital commercial expressions such as tweets should mention in the commercial that it is designated for 18 years or older. In addition, the receiver of the message should provide his consent explicitly prior to receiving the commercial expression. Regarding e.g. Twitter this can be done by creating a disclaimer for the advertisers' ‘followers’ telling them that they should be of age. A game provided for by an app from an alcoholic brand should include an age check.
Much uncertainty existed regarding the age limit when uploading photos to Facebook on the advertisers’ wall. The good news: the age limit is 18 years. But staged fashion models from the advertising campaign of an alcohol brand must have a minimum age of 25 years. The vague rule that they may not look younger than 25 years has been made more workable: only when someone looks evidently younger it will definitely go wrong. Thus show passport at shoots! Likewise the rule that public passing by an alcohol commercial may not consist of more than 25% of minors has luckily been clarified. Prior to the clarification the discussion would be whether the period of time that has to be measured was: a year, a month or even every time? Is an alcoholic commercial prohibited when a group of primary school students passes by the commercial causing the barrier of 25% of minors passing by the expression to be exceeded? No. It should be measured over a representative period of time. Incidental situations, such as a Christmasparty next door to a café, are not classified as an offence. It has never been the intention for this to be prohibited. The same applies for the regular street scenery: signs at a café, beer mats or taps.
A new rule is that professional athletes and alcohol commercials do not coincide. The exact date of entry of the new Code (and transmission) will be announced very soon, presumably 18 October 2011.
Ebba Hoogenraad – advertising lawyer in the Netherlands
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Once again the Commercial Code for Alcohol (Advertising Code for Alcoholic Beverages) has been amended. All direct digital commercial expressions such as tweets should mention in the commercial that it is designated for 18 years or older. In addition, the receiver of the message should provide his consent explicitly prior to receiving the commercial expression. Regarding e.g. Twitter this can be done by creating a disclaimer for the advertisers' ‘followers’ telling them that they should be of age. A game provided for by an app from an alcoholic brand should include an age check.
Much uncertainty existed regarding the age limit when uploading photos to Facebook on the advertisers’ wall. The good news: the age limit is 18 years. But staged fashion models from the advertising campaign of an alcohol brand must have a minimum age of 25 years. The vague rule that they may not look younger than 25 years has been made more workable: only when someone looks evidently younger it will definitely go wrong. Thus show passport at shoots! Likewise the rule that public passing by an alcohol commercial may not consist of more than 25% of minors has luckily been clarified. Prior to the clarification the discussion would be whether the period of time that has to be measured was: a year, a month or even every time? Is an alcoholic commercial prohibited when a group of primary school students passes by the commercial causing the barrier of 25% of minors passing by the expression to be exceeded? No. It should be measured over a representative period of time. Incidental situations, such as a Christmasparty next door to a café, are not classified as an offence. It has never been the intention for this to be prohibited. The same applies for the regular street scenery: signs at a café, beer mats or taps.
A new rule is that professional athletes and alcohol commercials do not coincide. The exact date of entry of the new Code (and transmission) will be announced very soon, presumably 18 October 2011.
Ebba Hoogenraad – advertising lawyer in the Netherlands