Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 11 July 2018

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children and Youth Affairs

Tackling Childhood Obesity: Discussion (Resumed)

9:30 am

Ms Orla Twomey:

When I mentioned compliance, it was in respect of all media. This is because the ASAI code goes across all media, including broadcast media. We have a very broad online remit. We cover paid-for advertising online and posts on companies' own pages. The challenge regarding online advertising is that our viewing experiences tend to be individual to ourselves. Approximately 40% of complainants mention that they have seen material online as well on television or in print, so they complain about multiple media. We are very conscious that parents might not see what children are seeing. How we address this is a challenge, and I am not sure if there is an easy answer. People know that the ASAI is here to complain to and we are very easy to find, so if parents have concerns about advertising their children are seeing, they can complain to us, we can approach the advertisers and we can get copies of the advertising.