Helping protect children by banning payday loan ads before the watershed

chanz4

should ban credit cards then and expensive mobile phones, as kids will want to growup to them also

sinizterguy

How about banning all advertisements ?

That way, it will be an inclusive option that won't single out any particular group of advertisers, or people, or kids, or baby animals ....

RichL74

Ban all adverts? Sky would have a field day, my adverts were interupted by an actual programme the other day, I was offended.

Herzlos

chanz4 wrote: »

should ban credit cards then and expensive mobile phones, as kids will want to growup to them also

You can have a credit card and mobile phone without screwing your finances. I guess you can with a payday loan too but it's almost impossible - even if you pay it off on time it'll make other lenders wary.

The problem isn't so much that they are offering an often useful service, it's the way they do it; "Need money for that holiday? Payday loan!" with puppets and grannies and the like, so that kids now start to equate being short of money with payday loans and not with saving.

Some actual financial education in schools would be useful, as would some government adverts encouraging responsible borrowing, but that'd never happen.

Clive_Woody

Tropez wrote: »

Sorry, but I find this to be nanny state mentality.

There's plenty of products advertised on television that could have a negative impact on their users. Now, while it might seem ideal for some people to have all such adverts terminated, it would leave commercial breaks a little thin on the ground.

Instead, surely it should just be encouraged for parents to properly educate their children about the real world before they reach it without an idea?

I understand brand recognition and I understand the power of television advertising but just because something is on television doesn't mean that everyone is going to want it. Parents should talk to their kids, educate them on finances and make them realise that borrowing £500 at 1,400% APR is a bit daft. Since we now have financial education in schools is it not being brought up there as well?

I think efforts would be better placed in working out why on earth we have working families who are living below the poverty line that makes payday loan companies a viable business in the first place? Are they all frittering their cash away or is it something more significant such as salaries not rising in lines with inflation and leaving people behind?

So would you be happy if they advertised !!!!!!, alcohol and cigarettes on children's TV channels also? Surely the parents could just educate their children and then it would all be fine....

chanz4

Herzlos wrote: »

You can have a credit card and mobile phone without screwing your finances. I guess you can with a payday loan too but it's almost impossible - even if you pay it off on time it'll make other lenders wary.

The problem isn't so much that they are offering an often useful service, it's the way they do it; "Need money for that holiday? Payday loan!" with puppets and grannies and the like, so that kids now start to equate being short of money with payday loans and not with saving.

Some actual financial education in schools would be useful, as would some government adverts encouraging responsible borrowing, but that'd never happen.

if you pay it, also likes of vanquis etc that are high capital one to name a couple. pay late and they are no better

Tropez

Clive_Woody wrote: »

So would you be happy if they advertised !!!!!!, alcohol and cigarettes on children's TV channels also? Surely the parents could just educate their children and then it would all be fine....

Firstly, the guest speaks of banning all advertising for payday loan companies before 9pm, not just on children's channels. You're unlikely to see payday loan adverts on Nickelodeon because the target market is unlikely to be watching. If you do see such adverts on these channels, you should be emailing the companies involved and asking that they fire their marketing departments for being so utterly useless.

Secondly, alcohol is already advertised on television before 9pm. We expect adults to educate children on the responsible use of alcohol so why do we not think they are capable of doing the same thing with regards financial services? Especially given financial services are a much more important part of adult life than a bottle of blue WKD or a pint of pee-water that someone insists on calling Carling.

It's quite difficult to advertise pornography without using terminology or imagery that is considered unacceptable by current advertising standards, even after the watershed (although I will concede that the 900 channels certainly do their best in this regard). However, to make it relevant, I do believe that rather than introduce all these ISP-level blocks against "adult material" (which have already been proven to affect non-pornographic websites) we should provide parents with the necessary technical know-how to block content themselves and the ability to implement them as well as support to better educate their children about the dangers of the Internet (of which most forms of pornography are really quite a low-threat, comparatively speaking).

Cigarettes, actually, I do believe that the current restrictions on the advertising of cigarettes are a little OTT. However, since cigarettes, unlike alcohol, have nothing but negative health implications in the long-term it is acceptable not to overly promote them. Ignoring their existence though, not so smart. Once again, education is a better method of tackling any problem that may arise here.

Payday loans can be used responsibly and despite the various stories that emerge about people who run up thousands of pounds of debt, the majority of people who use them do so, pay it off and carry on with their lives. Attempting to ignore their very existence is not a responsible course of action. They already existed prior to when the first television adverts appeared. It is important to ensure that children and adults are aware that their rates of interest are diabolically poor, that there are risks in taking a payday loan and that there are other options.

Awareness encourages debate which encourages enlightenment and education. The existence of the products and even the advertisements is not the problem. The problem lies in the lack of fundamental knowledge on how to manage finances and awareness of risks and alternatives. Perhaps MSE should take a few advertising slots to run alongside any payday loan adverts to direct them to the relevant literature on this website about such alternatives? It would be of much greater benefit in the long-term.

There's a phenomenal amount of gambling-related advertising on television which represents a much more obvious financial quagmire for people. If we're going to ban payday loan advertising before 9pm, we should probably ban gambling advertising too. And there's the catalogue companies who provide easy credit facilities to nigh on everybody... Because I'm sure we're not advocating demonising a single part of a wider industry?

Clive_Woody

Tropez wrote: »

Firstly, the guest speaks of banning all advertising for payday loan companies before 9pm, not just on children's channels. You're unlikely to see payday loan adverts on Nickelodeon because the target market is unlikely to be watching. If you do see such adverts on these channels, you should be emailing the companies involved and asking that they fire their marketing departments for being so utterly useless.

It's actually quite common to see payday loans advertised on children's TV. I assume this is targeted at the parents but begins a cycle of desensitisation of the children as seeing PD loans as normal and something to be considered for everyday spending.

I appreciate that adult guidance should be able to counter this message but I would rather it were never there.

ajlennon

Preventing kids from seeing the adverts will cause them more problems than allowing them to see them.

They should be allowed to see them and educated as to the nature of payday loans.

Tropez

Clive_Woody wrote: »

It's actually quite common to see payday loans advertised on children's TV. I assume this is targeted at the parents but begins a cycle of desensitisation of the children as seeing PD loans as normal and something to be considered for everyday spending.

I appreciate that adult guidance should be able to counter this message but I would rather it were never there.

Well then if they are advertising on children's television channels then it would make sense to implement some sort of sanity check for broadcasters to abide by.

I don't personally believe any message can be appropriately countered by attempting to brush it under the carpet and feel that the calls to ban these adverts (even if only before the watershed) are merely people attempting to shirk parental responsibility. The article made the claim that children might pressure their parents into taking payday loans; honestly, if a parent allows their child to bully them in such a manner they're a pretty terrible parent.