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Youth signage
"Images always have an impact": Arcom launches its new youth signage awareness raising campaign
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As of November 20, 2022 and for at least 3 weeks, the audiovisual media will show the annual youth signage information and awareness-raising campaign produced by Arcom.
Among the many actions taken by Arcom to protect youngsters, particular attention is paid to protecting young audiences from unsuitable content. Youth signage is the key tool in Arcom's scheme to protect young people and persons under 18.
Conference to launch the 2022-2026 awareness raising campaign
Roch-Olivier Maistre, Chairman of Arcom, and Carole Bienaimé Besse, Arcom member and Chair of the "Education, audience protection and social cohesion in audiovisual and digital media" working group, unveiled the new 2022-2026 youth signage campaign at a press conference on Tuesday, November 15, and renewed the Authority's commitment to protecting youngsters from screens.
Youth signage
Programmes for younger viewers can be identified and identified by means of the youth rating system.
Since 2005, a notice on youth labelling and program classification has defined the different program categories and set out their programming conditions.
Each channel has its own broadcast committee, which recommends a program classification. The channel complies with the program classification based on five levels of assessment of the acceptability of these programs with regard to the protection of children and adolescents, and applies the corresponding labelling. Channels display a pictogram indicating the age from which a program may be viewed:
all audiences; - 10 years; - 12 years; - 16 years; - 18 years.
Which signal for which content?
Meaning
When a program contains scenes that may shock youngsters, or when the subject matter may disturb them.
Diffusion times
During the day, under certain conditions
They may not be programmed within youth programs.
Meaning
When a program contains scenes that may shock youngsters, or when the subject matter may disturb them.
Diffusion times
During the day, under certain conditions
They may not be programmed within youth programs.
Meaning
When a program is likely to disturb the senses of under-16s, particularly erotic programs or those featuring particularly disturbing scenes of violence.
Diffusion times
As of 10:30 pm
Special regime for cinema channels and pay-per-view channels, which are subject to a different regime.
Meaning
Films forbidden to under-18s, as well as pornographic or extremely violent programs, reserved for a warned adult audience and which may harm the physical, mental or moral development of under-18s.
Diffusion times
Between midnight and 5 a.m.
Only certain channels accessible by contract, including cinema channels and pay-per-view channels, are authorized to show these programs, provided that they set up a locking scheme to prevent access by persons under 18. They may only be shown between midnight and 5am.
Newspapers, advertisements, video clips and cinema releases all benefit from specially adapted schemes.
News broadcasts: an oral warning
Signage is not used on news broadcasts. The female presenter must clearly warn the audience before showing difficult images or testimonies relating to particularly dramatic events. This warning enables the adult to keep youngsters away from the screen.
This oral warning is considered to be a suitable measure for news bulletins made up of very short documentaries, for which pictograms cannot play their role effectively.
Pictograms, on the other hand, are used during society and news magazines.
As a general rule, recommends that children under 8 should not be allowed towatch news broadcasts and news channels.
Advertising: checks before and after diffusion
Advertisements do not carry any warning signs.
The Autorité de régulation professionnelle de la publicité (ARPP) - an interprofessional association consulted by advertisers - checks ads before they are shown on television.
Arcom, for its part, monitors commercials after they have been shown on , as of all other television programs. In addition, it ensures that the commercial pressure exerted on children by advertising is not too great:
- commercials featuring products derived from children's programs must not be shown immediately before or after the program in question;
- private channels have agreed to limit advertising credits in children's programs to a minimum length;
- commercials for premium-rate telephone or SMS services likely to exploit the inexperience or credulity of persons under 18 may only be shown between midnight and 5 a.m.;
- commercial communications for sports betting, horse racing and poker may not be shown on programs and services aimed at persons under 18;
- since January 1, 2018, no commercial advertising may be shown on France Télévisions channels 15 minutes before and after a program intended primarily for children under twelve.
This ban also concerns France Télévisions' on-demand audiovisual media services (SMAD) and websites aimed primarily at children under 12.
Video clips: no systematic signage
In view of their brevity and the absence of any announcement before their diffusion, channels are not obliged to systematically affix a sign to video clips.
- They do, however, sometimes choose to display the pictogram "not recommended for children under 10", when they deem it necessary.
- During the day, channels give priority to versions that have been purged of images likely to offend youngsters, where such versions exist.
- They must respect the time constraint of showing clips likely to offend youngsters after 10 p.m.(notice of June 7, 2005).
Cinematographic works: distinguishing between theatrical and television diffusion
For theatrical diffusion
The Centre National du Cinéma et de l'Image animée (CNC) has a commission responsible for classifying all films released in cinemas, as well as certain trailers. Arcom is a member of this committee. The operating license issued by the Minister of Culture on the advice of this commission may be accompanied by a ban on films for under-12s, under-16s or under-18s, and/or a warning to the public.
In such cases, channels must inform viewers of these restrictions both when trailers are shown and when the film is presented or diffused on air.
For television diffusion
The criteria for a theatrical or television diffusion are not the same, notably because the film is watched at home, making it accessible to a younger audience.
TV channels therefore have to check that the rating given for a cinema screening can be transposed to a TV diffusion, and strengthen it if necessary. All-audience films shown in cinemas are sometimes shown on television with a rating of "not recommended for children under 10" or "not recommended for children under 12".
TV channels classify their own programs before they are shown. Each must set up a broadcast committee whose members they choose.
Arcom has established a number of non-exhaustive criteria to help classify programs, including :
- the number and nature of violent scenes
- whether they are gratuitous or essential to the scenario
- scripted use of violence to resolve conflicts
- staging, image treatment, type of shot used, realism of representation, treatment of the soundtrack (anxiety-inducing)
- evocation of difficult themes such as drugs, suicide, incest and domestic violence
- child abuse
- depictions of sexual acts
- image of women (respectful or degrading)
- character psychology and the cues it supplies to a child or teen audience (punishment or reward for acts of violence, etc.)
- the hero's character, motives, recourse to violence or dangerous or illegal behavior (drugs, etc.)
- the presence of children in violent scenes.
These criteria are applied on a case-by-case basis and, in the case of series, episode by episode.
Arcom encourages TV channels to use this system as soon as they suspect that a program may offend youngsters. The aim of is not to sanitize the small screen, but to inform parents .
Arcom verifies, after the program has been shown by the channel, the presence of the pictogram where necessary, and the choice of broadcast schedule.
Arcom acts either on its own initiative or on the basis of a complaint, always after the show has been broadcast.
When a program does not appear to be suitable for all audiences, Arcom teams open an investigation file.
The working group responsible for youth protection within the Autorité, and then Arcom's plenary college, then assess the relevance of the classifications and programming schedules chosen by the channels.
Arcom examines complaints from viewers, associations, sent by mail or e-mail, as long as these complaints mention the name of the channel and the broadcast schedule or program title. These complaints may lead Arcom to intervene with the channel concerned.
Arcom always takes action after the fact. Its effectiveness is recognized: channels modify their programming schedules or choice of pictogram for future broadcasts, in line with the observations sent to them.
For on-air use
- Download pictograms (zipped tga format)
- Download public warnings (tga zipped format)
- Download on-screen sign placement guidelines
For use on paper
- Download pictograms (black on white background in zipped eps format)
- Download public warnings (black on white background, zipped eps format)
The youth signage awareness raising campaign
Arcom completes its action by producing an annual awareness-raising campaign on youth signage, shown by the audiovisual media every year-end for at least three weeks with effect from November 20 (International Children's Rights Day).
In 2022, Arcom renewed its awareness-raising campaign on youth signs.
The Authority has chosen to give a voice to children and youngsters, without verdict. They express and share their emotions, in their own words, about the video content they found offensive.
Each film focuses on a specific subject: violence on screen (film for 8-10 year-olds), conformism of female bodies and aesthetic codes (film for 11-13 year-olds), and the abrupt, raw violence of pornographic images (film for 14-16 year-olds).
The campaign was designed by CAPA corporate.
TV spots for the 2022 campaign
The TV spots were produced by writer-director Aymeric Coletta.
TV spot for the 8-10 age segment.
TV spot for the 11-13 age segment.
TV spot for the 14-16 age segment.
The 2022 campaign radio spot
Arcom tutorials
Tutorials produced with the participation ofFrench actress, humorist, scriptwriter and columnist Lison Daniel and journalist Giulia Foïs.
The importance of open dialogue
Whatever the age of your children, it's important to talk to them, to help them understand and express their emotions, and to develop their critical thinking skills. If your child has been shocked by an image, expressing his or her feelings can minimize the impact the image may have had on him or her. It's also an opportunity to consolidate their bearings and their representation of the world around them.