ASA upholds complaint against Santa offering Coca-Cola to kids

ASA board found that the ad contravened the children's advertising code. Photo/Supplied.

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) complaints board has upheld a complaint against an advertisement that promotes Coca-Cola to children and young people.

Complainant Michael Hale, acting on behalf of Healthy Auckland Together, laid a formal complaint about Coca Cola's sponsorship campaign "It Feels Good to Give."

The ASA code provides that that sponsorship advertisements for occasional food or beverage products (such as sugary drinks) must not target children or be placed in any media where children are likely to be a significant proportion of the expected average audience.

The ad in question appeared in a bus shelter close to the intersection with Kohimarama Rd in Auckland, featuring a vintage style Santa Claus riding in a car holding two glass bottles of Coca-Cola, one labelled No Sugar, doing a peace sign with his other hand and stating: "It feels good to give".

The bottom of the advertisement included the Youthline and Coca-Cola logos and
said: "Join us in giving to Youthline. TXT 'YL' to 5144 to give $3".

The complainant argued the poster was a sponsorship ad targeted at a younger audience as it was placed at a bus stop opposite local shops where many children and young people stop on their way to and from school.

Coca-Cola said the advertisement was not a sponsorship advertisement and that the bus
shelter in which the advertisement was placed was 550m from St Thomas' Primary
school and 290m from Selwyn College.

It also said the ad was designed to appeal to families rather than children.

The majority of ASA board found that it was a sponsorship advertising and that it did have a strong appeal to children.

The board said that while it was moderated by the distance of the bus stop from St Thomas Primary, there was still a high likelihood that the advertisement would be seen by a younger audience.

Despite a board minority disagreeing with this assesment, the majority ruling meant that the ad was subject to the Children and Young People's Advertising Code, which prohibits showing an occasional beverage product in sponsorship advertisements.

The advertisement was found to contravene this rule and it was subsequently removed.

Hale welcomed the decision by the ASA.

"While it looks like self-regulation has worked on this occasion, there is no sanction for the company," Hale said.

"Manufacturers and advertisers of unhealthy food need to take note. The code is there to protect children and young people from being targeted. Children do not understand that they are being marketed to. Parents do understand that ubiquitous advertising aimed at children normalises unhealthy food and drink, and encourages pestering."

ASA's children's code was reviewed in 2016 to reduce harm to children and young people from the promotion of unhealthy food and drinks, as part of the previous government's childhood obesity plan.

This is Healthy Auckland Together's second complaint under ASA's new children's code and the first complaint to be upheld.

Last year, the coalition complained to the ASA that the Pepsi Max campaign used cute emoji caricatures of the All Blacks to encourage children to collect fizzy drink cans. This complaint was settled as Frucor took down the ads voluntarily.