WOMMA UK

Over the past few months we've been very busy consulting with the Advertising Association about the Bailey Review on child sexualisation and commercialisation in peer to peer marketing campaigns.

If you're one of our members, you may have participated in our survey on how you approach using young people for word of mouth campaigns. It's an important issue that has had a lot of attention in the press, and we're proud to have been part of a huge range of associations and brands shaping a response that is effective, realistic and actionable.

This week Mark Lund, Chair of the Advertising Association’s Children’s Panel, will present the new agreed guidelines to Prime Minister David Cameron. He says:  “Bailey recognised that the commercial world has much to offer children and families, but that we need to ensure we observe sensible guidelines in the way we interact with them. These measures will help industry do just that.”

The new guidance reads:

“Young people under the age of 16 should not be employed and directly or indirectly paid or paid-in-kind to actively promote brands, products, goods, services, causes or ideas to their peers, associates or friends.”

We'll be adding it to our WOMMA UK Code of Ethics which all our members subscribe to.

But to make sure everyone understands what it means in practice, we're also planning a panel including some of the leading figures who have put the guideline together, so we can explore the ramifications and give all our members the chance to ask questions about how it will impact on them.

The date and time for the panel will be announced soon - in the meantime get in touch if you have any questions.