ASA reprimands broadcasters for drinks ads

A number of UK television stations have recently fallen foul of watershed regulations after airing alcohol advertisements when children might be watching.

Advertising watchdog the ASA found numerous channels in breach of alcohol advertising regulations

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) found seven cases where broadcasters had broken Ofcom rules that state drink advertisements should not be aired during programmes where under-18s are the principle viewers or are likely to be watching.

In particular, the watchdog criticised Channel 4 for running the ads during and around the hit US comedies the Big Bang Theory and How I Met Your Mother and the film Aquamarine on its E4 service.

After acting on research from an Ofcom investigation, the ASA also found that Discovery and Comedy Central were also in breach of the regulations. Comedy Central channel-owner Paramount said its airing of an alcohol ad during Stuart Little 3 was due to a ‘system failure’.

Broadcasters are advised to use an audience indexing tool to determine how many children might be watching. Rules state if 10 to 15-year-olds are likely to compose 20% or more of the audience norm, then alcohol advertisements should not be aired.

Channel 4 said that it has tightened its restrictions on when alcohol advertisements can be shown.