Rant of the Week! Debt adverts on Kids' TV

Malestrom

This really is bad form on the part of the advertisers. There is a time and a place for these adverts and Childrens TV channels should be out of reach.

Knowing how much the BBC hates adverts, why not have a 'rant' on Jeremy Vine's show about this when you're next on Martin. Obviously don't spend the whole program on it but a quick 2 minute Martin Rant (tm) will no doubt bring in far more responses and condemnation than a posting on here.

Anyway, I fully support you on this, lets see if consumer power can make a difference!

Little_Jen

jmemmerson wrote:

I have already complained to ofcom about this subject.My five year old daughter is repeating some of the adverts at the dinner table and it's just not right! I have seen them on Nick jr and Boomerang. Children should not be subjected to advertising of any sort under the age of eleven. I am right behind any person or group that wishes to take this further.
Thanks

I don't like the fact that these adverts are on children's TV, or in fact on any channel. However, I do think that we should stop our children watching so much TV that they can recite adverts of any kind. There are so many good things that children could be doing instead of watching TV.

smiffy

This is why I don't mind paying the BBC just under 32p a day.

If you want to know how they spend your licence fee money then this page is quite useful.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/info/licencefee/

I currently pay Sky over 4.5x that sum for numerous channels filled advertising products I don't need to want.

But I too agree that there is far to much inappropiate advertising on the kids channels! More kids recoginise the golden arches than the queen! Hardly suprising as she only visable for 15min on Christmas Day once a year!

Hayze1980

I have two children and they are both Autistic. My five year old is drawn to the TV whenever she hears a finance ad (even if she's in a different room) and although she doesn't speak much, she seems to be able to repeat their phone numbers. My 8 year old has a lot of speech and has reminded me several times when hwe wants something that ocean finance could give me a loan. When I tell him no he then gives me all the other options I have of getting cash, with the phone numbers for each of them.

We restrict the viewing of television in our house as our children will become obsessive about anything if it is given too often. They get just 2 hours of tv a day (1hour in the morning and 1 at night) and they very quickly pick up on the ads. The probelm we face here is a generation who have been bought up with these ads thinking that it's OK to borrow money at any time for any purpose. They will be in debt all of their lives because of what they are being exposed to in childhood. I know that's what the finance companies want, but it really isn't fair.

elona

I agree with you Hayze

It is disgraceful that children can be brainwashed likethis - never mind vulnerable adults.

They always seem so smug when they do these adverts and I find the tone as well as the content to be annoying.

Matron_2

my 7 year old son is often suggesting I get a loan to pay for new toys etc.,!! He watches Jetix which is where he sees these ads. I really don't think these companies should be allowed to show these type of ads - but what can we do?

jellyhead

i agree hayze, my boy is mildly autistic he can quote these ads from start to finish, it's shocking. we prefer the BBC and TV is restriced in our house too but he does enjoy some of the cable TV channels too. the thing about the ads is that they're on halfway through the programmes!! if you could have a programme without a break and then switch over it would be okay. i realise the advertisers don't want you to do that but maybe they could restrict the advertising to adult channels. yes our kids can quote entire adverts at us when they want something we can't afford but has it ever made any of go out and get one of these loans? no, it drives us mad so even if we were looking for a loan we wouldn't touch the companies that irritate us on kids TV.

my boy asked me once on the way home from school if i'd like to buy my council house and gave me the number for regency mortgage corporation - i told him we already have a mortgage then he went on to tell me about homeowner loans - if we got one of those we could afford a holiday abroad ... arrrrgh! luckily he understood when i explained about repayments and how they're bad financial sense but the kids whose parents don't explain will grow up fed on a diet of these debt ads ... i realise there are kids whose parents don't watch TV with them and some who watch it for hours on end but i really wish channels would show a programme without ads on a kids channel - yes the kids who watch between programmes and just watch hours and hours of TV will be affected but at least those whose TV is monitored would get less exposure.

martin, please have a rant about it wherever you can :-) in the meantime let's all stop moaning about the BBC license fee :-)

rich0148

My son asked me what a consolidated loan was - he is six!!!

But surely this could be a vaid complaint? Is it not encouraging kids that loans etc are fine as these wonderful people will always help you? They most certainly are not encouraging the young ones to be careful about thier lives but saying, hey, borrow borrow borrow, its no problem.

I would love to complain but am unsure who I would complain to.

Agree with what you say, i think that they are all sharks and Carol Vordaman should know letter!

nearlyrich

I never really have the need to watch Kid's tv as my two are older teenagers, but daytime TV and Sky/ Cable TV in general, is full of these ads. I agree that people like Carole Vordeman, who people consider to be an intelligent member of society should think carefully about endorsing this kind of company.

Sadly there will always be vulnerable people who are easy prey to the "have it all now" messages but to have small children bombarded with this sort of ad is WRONG.

I feel sorry for people who are put under additional financial pressure as a result of this kind of thing.

What can we do? Who can we write to to express our anger regarding this? Does anyone know?

ulstermaid

They advertise on Cartoon Network daily. My 7 year old son was very concerned that we might have a debt problem and that we should phone Ocean Finance. He's even memorised the phone number!