Only 1% of press ads, excluding duplicates, broke the ASA's CAP Code, although nine were said to be questionable. All nine appeared in two issues of a magazine featuring the latest computer and console games.
Of these, seven were regarded as unsuitable in a magazine of which 53% of its readers were under 15. The other two offending ads were believed to encourage violence or anti-social behaviour. The sector advertising most to children through the press was food with 10.7%, with mobile phone accessories and music also scoring high.
The amount of ads that broke the code online was similarly low, with 1% of ads breaching the CAP Code. The ad in question was for a sales promotion that did not include the complete terms and conditions.
The survey found that no on-pack sales promotions, a popular way of reaching children, broke the code. Food was the most popular product to be advertised to children with 97% of sales promotion ads in the survey.
Cinema and outdoor advertising was also in the clear with none of the ads assessed during the survey breaching the guidelines.
The survey, conducted during July this year, assessed 882 marketing communications, with 134 of them advertising food products. Only one broke the code -- a press ad for Burger King, which failed on a technical hitch because it did not feature complete terms and conditions for entry.
The ASA conducted the survey to assess compliance rates for marketing in media targeted primarily at children, specifically looking at the marketing of food and drinks to children, mainly because of the problem of obesity.
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