It was officially announced this week that the new Advertising Code for Alcoholic beverages (Reclamecode voor Alcohol – RVA) would enter into effect on 1 July 2008. The main changes concern the ban on targeting advertisements for alcohol at minors. This ban has been made much stricter.
The new Article 10 of the Advertising Code for Alcoholic beverages, for example, now includes a long list of communications which are considered to be targeted at minors whatever the circumstances and are therefore completely prohibited. This concerns communications involving teenage love, school parties, examinations, cuddles, beach toys and young people’s slang.
There is moreover a new article prohibiting the advertising of alcohol during cinema films that could attract younger people. This applies of course to films for children and for family films that are dubbed into Dutch, but also to films where minors constitute more than 25% of the audience. It is therefore necessary to be on one’s guard with films such as Indiana Jones and Iron Man. In particular it is quite possible during the school holidays that more than 25% of the audience will be under the age of 18. The cinema can choose: do their sums or play safe and avoid any alcohol advertisements in case of doubt.
The well-known slogan for drinks with a low alcohol content “Alcohol under 16 - not yet” has changed to “Alcohol under 16 – of course not”. From now on this slogan must be used not only in TV and cinema advertising, but also in all printed communications. For spirits there is still the well-known educational slogan “Enjoy, but drink in moderation”, but this now has to be included from 1 July in printed communications. The RVA now states in precise detail how and where slogans are to be displayed.
There are now further restrictions on making a connection between alcohol and sexual or social success. The criterion until now was whether alcohol was actually consumed in the advertisements. The new Advertising Code for Alcoholic beverages states that it is possible to imply a connection between sexual success and alcohol even if no alcohol is consumed. We will have to wait and see how the Reclame Code Commissie (Dutch Advertising Authority) deals with this in practice. As before it is necessary to watch your step: it is of course easy to imply something. Naturally there has to be actual sexual or social success due to alcohol!
You can see the new Alcohol Advertising Code on www.stiva.nl.
Maud van der Leeuw
|
office Emerald House Jozef Israëlskade 48-G Amsterdam, the Netherlands t +31 (0)20 - 305 3066 www.hoogenhaak.nl |
post PO Box 76780 1070 KB Amsterdam e info@hoogenhaak.nl f +31 (0)20 - 305 3069 chamber of commerce 34314579 |
It was officially announced this week that the new Advertising Code for Alcoholic beverages (Reclamecode voor Alcohol – RVA) would enter into effect on 1 July 2008. The main changes concern the ban on targeting advertisements for alcohol at minors. This ban has been made much stricter.
The new Article 10 of the Advertising Code for Alcoholic beverages, for example, now includes a long list of communications which are considered to be targeted at minors whatever the circumstances and are therefore completely prohibited. This concerns communications involving teenage love, school parties, examinations, cuddles, beach toys and young people’s slang.
There is moreover a new article prohibiting the advertising of alcohol during cinema films that could attract younger people. This applies of course to films for children and for family films that are dubbed into Dutch, but also to films where minors constitute more than 25% of the audience. It is therefore necessary to be on one’s guard with films such as Indiana Jones and Iron Man. In particular it is quite possible during the school holidays that more than 25% of the audience will be under the age of 18. The cinema can choose: do their sums or play safe and avoid any alcohol advertisements in case of doubt.
The well-known slogan for drinks with a low alcohol content “Alcohol under 16 - not yet” has changed to “Alcohol under 16 – of course not”. From now on this slogan must be used not only in TV and cinema advertising, but also in all printed communications. For spirits there is still the well-known educational slogan “Enjoy, but drink in moderation”, but this now has to be included from 1 July in printed communications. The RVA now states in precise detail how and where slogans are to be displayed.
There are now further restrictions on making a connection between alcohol and sexual or social success. The criterion until now was whether alcohol was actually consumed in the advertisements. The new Advertising Code for Alcoholic beverages states that it is possible to imply a connection between sexual success and alcohol even if no alcohol is consumed. We will have to wait and see how the Reclame Code Commissie (Dutch Advertising Authority) deals with this in practice. As before it is necessary to watch your step: it is of course easy to imply something. Naturally there has to be actual sexual or social success due to alcohol!
You can see the new Alcohol Advertising Code on www.stiva.nl.
Maud van der Leeuw