The Norwegian action plan to reduce commercial pressure on children and the young people

Adolescent children are increasingly exposed to commercialisation. Consumption is on its way to becoming a major element in the life of children and youngsters. Advertisers, the advertising business and the media contribute to affecting the young’s consumption as well as their attitudes in general, with regard to their relation to body, looks, sexuality, drugs and violence.

The government’s goal is to reduce the commercial pressure on young people, and to make them and their parents more aware, and better capable of meeting, the influence that they are exposed to. In 2001, a government appointed committee presented the report “Adolescence with a price tag” (NOU 2001:6). In this survey, the subject of children and commercialisation is discussed in full, and a number of actions are proposed.

On the one hand, there is an obvious need to decide which commercial forms and expressions towards minors that society should not accept. One approach will be to seek to achieve voluntary guidelines in different areas. Amendments to existing legislation may also be considered. On the other hand, our main policy will be to prepare children and their parents to be better able to deal with the commercial pressure.

Against this background, the Ministry of Children and Family Affairs has developed a strategy consisting of the following main elements:

• Start a constructive dialogue with advertisers, the advertising business, the media and relevant organisations – with a view to initiating debate, influencing attitudes and promoting guidelines as regards influence on minors.
• Develop educational material and promote information and education aimed at children and youngsters about consumption, and about the ideals inherent in advertising and about the intended and actual effects of advertising.
• Consider appropriate legislative measures to reduce commercial pressure.

Actions:

1. Mapping and dialogue

The Ministry of Children and Family Affairs will initiate a debate and a constructive dialogue with advertisers, the advertising business, the media, sport organisations, educating institutions and others on commercial influence on children and young people. A project leader position will be established in The Consumer Ombudsman’s office as part of the practical follow- up. The activities will include:

Start-up conference To mark the start of the project, The Ministry of Children and Family Affairs and The Consumer Ombudsman will arrange a conference in April 2003. The target group for the event will be advertisers, the advertising business, organisations, researchers and others.

Marketing on the Internet The Consumer Ombudsman will, in cooperation with the consumer ombudsmen in the other Nordic countries, undertake a mapping exercise of advertising towards children on the Internet, through an "Internet Sweep-Day". The purpose is to examine marketing aimed at children and the young on the Internet, and to uncover possible violations of the law. The findings will be presented in a report, which will form the basis for a discussion about further actions and the way ahead.

The advertising business, advertisers and the media Initiatives will be taken to have discussions with the advertising industry’s, the advertisers’ and the media’s organisations about ethical guidelines for influencing children and the young, with a focus on the body, body fixation and body ideals.

Voluntary child and youth organisations Voluntary child and youth organisations will be invited to a dialogue on possible joint actions.

Children’s sports The extent of commercial elements in children’s sport activities will be mapped, and initiatives will be taken to involve central sports organisations in a cooperation about guidelines for this area.

Kindergarten and school The extent of advertising in textbooks in the elementary school will be studied. The need for guidelines for sponsorship and advertising in kindergarten and school will be evaluated in dialogue with the kindergarten and educational sector.

The Consumer Ombudsman will give lectures in school classes, youth clubs and parent groups.

The Ministry will give economic support to a project under the direction of the organisation “The future in our hands” to map brand awareness and pressure amongst children and the young, and to inform about the results in school.

Standardisation The Ministry of Children and Family Affairs will invite Norwegian stakeholders to a discussion about whether the subject marketing towards children should be followed up in regard to standardisation. The international standardisation’s organisation ISO is developing standards for "Corporate Social Responsibility". A dialogue will take place between consumer organisations, business and industry in a separate committee for this purpose.

2. Information, teaching and education

Schools are supposed to provide knowledge and practical skills, enabling students to develop a more critical view on commercials, sex roles and purchasing pressure, and to behave as conscious and independent consumers. A further goal is to develop increased insight into advertising methods and purposes, and to help the students interpret, analyse and scrutinise pictures and other commercial messages with a critical eye. The strengthening of education in consumer topics in school will be pursued by the Ministry of Children and Family Affairs and the Consumer Ombudsman, in consultation with the Ministry of Education and Research.

Further develop consumer education in schools In elementary school, consumer education will be further developed as an interdisciplinary topic, including elements of social studies and home economics. In secondary education at advanced level, the consumer topics will be integrated in the subject “Economy and information processing (ICT)”.

Strengthen consumer education in teacher training The subject ‘commercial influence’ will be promoted in teacher training in cooperation with selected colleges. The aim is to offer and implement an annual subject day for four colleges.

Up-grading courses for teachers As a step in the training of teachers in elementary school, 16 one day courses about advertising and commercial pressure will be held annually. The courses will be offered to four counties in 2003, and the goal is that all counties will be covered within three years. As a supplementary measure, a distance learning subject “Needs and desire” will be offered at the Hedmark University College.

Develop and coordinate material and textbooks A workbook on advertising will be distributed in class sets to all high schools. The consumer education will primarily be based on net-based textbooks, and use of information technology will be an integrated part of the students’ exercises.

Continued economic support will be given to an interactive education plan for students and teachers, called “the THINK project”. This project is integrated in the School net. The aim is to give students increased knowledge and understanding of the influential power of media and the commercials, and thereby to enable them to make more informed choices based on critical evaluation.

An initiative will be taken to coordinate resources of different nets to form a part of consumer education. This includes the School net, the Consumer Council’s and the Consumer Ombudsman’s websites, a website for the organisation “Parents’ board for the elementary school”, and a website for youngsters.

Information and discussion scheme for parents An information and discussion scheme for parent meetings about children’s consumption, fashion, purchasing pressure and advertising will be established. Cooperation will take place with the parents’ board, their net portal and the magazine “Parent contact”.

Debate about values in school and kindergarten

Among other things, cooperation will take place with the Christian Educational Union. Their project on the commercialisation of children and youngsters’ everyday life will receive economic support from the Ministry of Children and Family Affairs.

Expanded international cooperation Within the consumer policy cooperation under the Nordic Council of Ministers, the work and information carried out by schools and the Nordic consumer organisations will be mapped. One goal will be to find good model examples of information, to identify areas and subjects that are especially suited for further Nordic efforts, as well as possible initiatives for projects on a European level. The subject of commercial pressure towards children and the young will be pursued by Norway at the Nordic Consumer Minister meeting in Stockholm in August 2003.

3. Legislation

There is so far very little legislation that is specifically designed to protect children from commercial pressure. An exception is the ban on commercials aimed especially at children in the Act relating to broadcasting activities. The general prescriptions of the Marketing Control Act apply to all forms of marketing, also marketing aimed at children. In the evaluation of whether a marketing practice is legal, it is recognised that children need extra protection because of their lack of experience and their gullibility. This principle is not explicitly stated in the act, but follows from the practice of the Market Court and the Consumer Ombudsman, and to a certain degree from the act’s preparatory work.

Legislative measures may in some respects represent an appropriate means to reduce the commercial pressure on children and the young. In this regard, the following measures will be considered:

1. an explicit statement in the Market Control Act as to specific considerations to be taken into  account when marketing is aimed at children
2. an explicit ban in the Market Control Act on direct marketing to children under a certain age
3. a ban on showing commercials in cinemas in connection with films allowed for children under the age of seven
4. a ban on the inclusion of commercials in children’s video films
5. introduction of provisions on spin-off products in the Act relating to broadcasting activities
6. restrictions on commercials in textbooks and educational material in the elementary school will be evaluated when the extent of commercials in textbooks in the elementary school has been mapped.

The project on children and advertising with the Consumer Ombudsman should provide an important basis for the evaluation of the need for stricter legislation.

Work under way in the EU to harmonise European legislation on marketing will have repercussions for the Norwegian legislation. The Ministry of Children and Family Affairs took part in the expert group that assisted the Commission in the preparation of the legislation. A vital concern is that the considerations relating to children are included in the directive proposals. The planned revision of Norwegian legislation must pay attention to the developments in the EU and the proposal for a directive that will probably be presented in the summer of 2003.

Cosmetic surgery

There is an 18 year age limit on cosmetic surgery for surgery of non-reversible character. The Ministry of Health will prepare a circular on this matter.