Minors must be especially protected when it comes to advertising. In Austria, both the ORF and Private Radio Act and the Audiovisual Media Services Act provide explicit protection regulations for minors. For example, advertising for alcoholic beverages may not be directly aimed at minors. Advertising for minors must not contain a direct invitation to buy and must not directly encourage them to persuade their parents or other third parties to buy. Overall, it should be noted that advertising must not exploit the inexperience of minors.
The Austrian Advertising Council (ÖWR) is an independent body of the association “Society for Self-Regulation of the Advertising Industry” and is primarily committed to ensuring a high degree of responsible conduct in advertising.
In its self-regulatory code, it has created special rules of conduct for advertising with and for minors. For example, advertising may not depict violent, aggressive or antisocial behavior as worthy of imitation and must not endanger the emotional well-being of children. Advertising that is directly aimed at children must take into account the lack of maturity and experience of children, must not be gender-discriminatory and must not contain products that are not suitable for children, such as alcohol or tobacco.
Influencers and Minors
Due to the increasing influence of influencers, especially on children and adolescents, the Austrian Advertising Council has also included “rules of the game” for influencers in its code.
Particular attention is paid to a “healthy body shape”, “discrimination and exclusion in connection with psychological and social violence” and the “invitation to buy the advertised products”.
No invitation to buy: Especially in the case of advertising that is directly aimed at children and adolescents, “there must be no obvious or hidden invitation to buy the advertised product”.
Healthy body shape: In their advertising measures, influencers must ensure that they do not use selfies, photos, videos, etc. that “propagate health-damaging behavior or health-damaging body shapes, especially in relation to body weight”.
Discrimination and exclusion in connection with psychological and social violence: Influencers must not discriminate against others in advertising, insult them, threaten them or create fear. Thus, the so-called “pranking”, in which someone is played a prank, the event is recorded on video and then published on the Internet, is also prohibited.
Caution is also required with influencers in the context of advertising, and they must adhere to the “rules of the game” of the Austrian Advertising Council.
Read also “Advertising and Politicians”
