Friday 24 May 2013

Non-story of the day

From the Guardian:

Alcohol advertising on television to be reviewed

Ofcom has ordered a review into whether to cut the amount of alcohol advertising on TV, after finding that large numbers of children are tuning into shows such as The X Factor and Britain's Got Talent, which are aimed at more adult audiences and could potentially carry alcohol ads under existing rules.


OMG! Children are seeing alcohol advertisements on The X Factor and Britain's Got Talent!

Ofcom also found that the viewing habits of children have changed, with much of the television being watched by under-18s aimed at adult audiences.

Yes indeed. The X Factor and Britain's Got Talent are the best examples of this. Something must be done.

For example, Ofcom research shows he most watched shows among four- to nine-year-olds is Britain's Got Talent and The X Factor, which under existing TV ad rules can run alcohol ads.

Kids are watching booze ads on The X Factor and Britain's Got Talent! Won't someone please think of the children?

However, a spokeswoman for the shows pointed out that while they are allowed to carry alcohol advertising under existing rules, neither does.

Oh.

Sounds like self-regulation is working just fine, but let's not allow that to spoil a good story.

3 comments:

nisakiman said...

And just what is shielding the little kiddy-winkies from alcohol advertising supposed to achieve?

I seem to recollect that when I was a child any advertising for alcohol had absolutely no impact on me at all. Whisky? Yeeuch! Wine? Bleagh! And when at the age of fourteen I started going to pubs (you could get away with it in the early sixties), my choice of drink was dictated by budget and taste But mostly budget, (or a lack thereof). My adolescent tongue wasn't ready for adult tastes, so it was Brown Ale (fairly sweet), Mild Ale, or sweet stout (Mackeson was it?), but certainly nothing that I saw advertised on billboards or on ITA, the commercial alternative to BBC.

Really Chris, these people who have appointed themselves moral arbiters for the nation really do have a finger-wagging OCD.

Bucko said...

There was a story in the Star (I don't have a link, I read it in the kebab shop) about soap operas featuring unhealthy lifestyles. They were having a go at the food and drink consumed by characters and their lack of exercise.

Big study by 'scientists' apparently

Steve Kelly said...

I often go bar-hopping with a four-year-old lush. She says she got started on the sauce when she heard that booze ads could be shown along with her favorite TV show "The X Factor". Although no such ads were shown within the program, the implication that they could be was enough to turn her into an alcoholic. She also started chain-smoking recently when she heard that cigarette ads used to be shown within episodes of the "Morecambe & Wise" program. Of course, she never even watched that show, but the implications of the historical situation convinced her she must smoke. She isn't concerned about her addictions because she knows she is doomed, anyway, by having been exposed to the effects of third-hand smoke from Winston Churchill's cigars. The new ban proposals must be adopted into law. Any suggestion or even possible suggestion of unhealthy behavior, past, present, or potentially to come, must be eradicated, as must of course be all history itself. Those who disagree are industry shills who seek to kill four-year-olds. Studies prove this. You can't argue with science!