Tag: advertising

Alcohol consumption among young people increases as a result of advertising campaigns and the EU should promote more responsible marketing, stakeholders agreed this week. But responsibility for dealing with the issue lies with member states and the European Commission has no intention of harmonising legislation in this regard. 

Traditionally, EU laws on advertising applied to print and broadcast media, but as adverts increasingly migrate to an unregulated online world, lawmakers and consumer groups are exploring ways to ensure that digital marketing does not infringe consumer rights.

Advertising revenue is in free-fall at European newspapers, which have seen a sharp decrease in their advertising income in the last two months: the worst in the industry's history. Against this backdrop, publishers are asking the EU to abstain from changing copyright rules as suggested by the European Commission this week.

A group of leading European health experts have called for a Europe-wide ban on alcohol advertising that appeals to children and adolescents.

The UK's advertising watchdog decided this summer that oil company Shell misled the British public in a recent advertisement highlighting its environmental credentials, in a ruling that could draw a line in the sand regarding the acceptability of green marketing campaigns.

European institutions in Brussels could learn from advertisers in better promoting the benefits of EU membership to citizens, argues Gary Leih, CEO of Ogilvy UK and President of the European Association of Communication Agencies (EACA) in an interview with EurActiv.

Eleven major food and beverage companies, including Nestlé and Coca-Cola, have jointly pledged to change the way they advertise to children. The commitment follows Commission calls to restrict advertising of unhealthy foods as childhood obesity is rapidly increasing in the EU.

Parliament's culture committee has approved new rules that would allow more commercial breaks and US-style product placement in television and other audiovisual broadcasts in the EU, paving the way for their adoption by the end of the year.

Consumer Protection Commissioner Meglena Kuneva has praised the progress made by the European Advertising Standards Alliance (EASA) in the field of self-regulation in the advertising industry.

The Parliament’s culture committee, on 8 May, gave its backing to a compromise text, reached with the German Presidency, that would allow more commercial breaks and US-style product placement in television and other audiovisual broadcasts.

The use of 'traffic lights' to identify products that are high, medium or low in salt, sugar and fat is one of the schemes under discussion for unified EU food labelling. Industry, however, opposes the proposal.

Food labelling and advertising to children are two areas where industry is unlikely to be able to self-regulate and legislation is therefore required, argues Sue Davies from the UK consumer organisation Which?.