It is counterproductive if the preventive health lobby is always going to reject whatever changes the television networks propose — no matter what those changes are, according to a policy analyst from the Centre for Independent Studies.
“One activist group has accused the new rules of making it harder for citizens to complain about ads they object to. But the changes they are referring to are things like no longer accepting official complaints via fax! To object to commonsense changes like that, it just seems kneejerk,” Helen Andrews says.
“Kids are a very small part of the audience for the kinds of sporting events where the ad rules would be changed. The young people who do watch are usually watching with a parent. It’s a supervised environment.”
“The television market is in a state of upheaval at the moment, with streaming on demand, the advent of Netflix, video piracy, and all the rest. The networks are just requesting that they be given the flexibility to respond to these new developments.
“In a country where 72 percent of teenagers under 17 are abstaining from alcohol, I think that’s a flexibility we can give them.”
Helen Andrews is a Policy Analyst at the Centre for Independent Studies.
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