Notice of June 7, 2006 to television service editors concerning advertising practices related to the diffusion of animation and drama aimed at persons under 18.
The French Superior Audiovisual Council has traditionally been particularly vigilant in overseeing advertising practices aimed primarily at persons under 18.
Certain categories of viewers may not be mature enough to clearly distinguish between advertising and programming.
This is why, in line with its remit under article 15 of law no. 86-1067 of September 30 1986, as amended, the Conseil has decided to regulate the diffusion of works aimed at person under 18, whose protagonists are the subject of separate commercial exploitation.
To protect the fragile audience of persons under 18, the Conseil summons all television services to respect the following principles.
The Conseil does not intend to call into question the process, now highly developed in the audiovisual industry, of derivative products, understood as goods or services which are the variation in another form or another medium of pre-existing goods or services.
However, it does wish to regulate the programming of animated and drama programmes aimed at youngsters which, by featuring characters who are commercially exploited separately, can contribute to promoting products or services using the image of these characters, by creating confusion in the minds of young viewers between advertising and drama.
This can happen in two ways:
* Where the work has given rise to derivative products or services
These are works of animation or drama that have met with significant success, and whose characters are used to create products aimed at youngsters: school supplies, videodiscs, toys and gaming, and so on.
To avoid any risk of confusion in the minds of young viewers between the editorial content of a work and the advertising message promoting products derived from it, these advertisements must be chronologically separated as clearly as possible from the work.
Consequently, the work may not be interrupted, preceded or followed by advertising messages for products or services using the image of its protagonists. Thus, the message may not be shown in last position in the advertising screen preceding the beginning of the work, nor in first position in the screen following the end of the work;
* Case of a work featuring characters from pre-existing products or services
These are works of animation or drama, accompanying the commercial launch of product or service ranges. On several occasions, the Council has noted the television programming of works featuring characters taken directly from the world of toys (dolls, stuffed toys, etc.).
The promotional nature of this practice is incompatible with the provisions of article 9 of decree no. 92-280 of March 27 1992, as amended, which prohibits surreptitious advertising. Under the provisions of this article, "surreptitious advertising is the verbal or visual presentation of goods, services, the name, trademark or activities of a producer of goods or a provider of services in programs, when this presentation is made for advertising purposes".
So as not to contravene the provisions of the aforementioned article, the Council wishes the following conditions to be respected.
- If the work is an adaptation or audiovisual production of a pre-existing product or service, it must not be shown for the first time during the period when the product or service is being marketed in France.
- When this work is shown, it may not be interrupted, preceded or followed by advertising messages for products or services using the image of its protagonists. For the application of the present principle, a period of at least forty-five minutes must elapse between the diffusion of the commercials on the one hand, and the beginning and end of the work on the other.