TEN in trouble over cereal ad

Network TEN (Melbourne) breached the Broadcasting Services Act when it did aired an advertisement featuring cricketer Adam Gilchrist for Nestle Milo Cereal (Milo Cereal).

The Australian Communications and Media Authority says TEN did not comply with the Children’s Television Standards 2005 when it aired the ad in October 2006.

ACMA found that if an advertisement broadcast during a C period contains a premium offer, reference to the premium must be incidental to the main product advertised.

The advertisement featured Adam Gilchrist chatting to a boy about his ‘Hey Gilly Desktop Coach CD ROM.’ Forty spoken words referred to the CD-ROM while nine pertained to the cereal. ACMA found a reference to the premium offer in the Milo advertisement for the CD ROM, was more than incidental to the main product advertised, the cereal.

The licensee submitted that it broadcast the advertisement in good faith based on the existing regulatory principles established by the former Australian Broadcasting Authority (ABA).

In this instance, ACMA has decided not to take enforcement action against the licensee, having regard to the licensee’s reliance on the previous ABA decision.

Source: ACMA