UK Law and Practice Contributed by: Huw Morris, Dominic Bray, Nick Swimer and Rebecca Coleman, Lee & Thompson LLP
ads that it found mocked or insensitively depicted par - ticular ethnic groups. Similarly, research by the ASA in 2025 into the portrayal of older people in advertising found that, whilst older people were generally rela - tively positive about ageing, in advertising they were often shown to be frail, inactive and isolated. Guid - ance sets out that reinforcing these stereotypes may be problematic for advertisers. The ASA continues to address complaints regarding all forms of representa - tion, ensuring ads promote inclusion and avoid dis - criminatory content. 3.2 Children Advertising to children is subject to stricter regulations under the Codes, which see a child as anyone under the age of 16. The Codes require that ads aimed at children do not exploit their credulity and vulnerabil - ity, nor encourage poor nutritional habits, lifestyles or “pester power”. Advertisements for HFSS products are subject to timing and media restrictions, ensuring they are not targeted at or likely to be seen by chil - dren (see 1.10 Taste and Cultural Concerns regarding pending tighter restrictions). The past year has seen significant political and regulatory focus on protecting children, with more robust enforcement actions by the ASA and additional protections under the OSA. The OSA requires that online platforms prevent children from accessing age-inappropriate and harmful con - tent, including some advertising. The DMCCA also restricts certain marketing to children, including an automatic prohibition on encouraging “pester power”. Data protection legislation treats anyone under the age of 13 as a child, and requires processing to: • be fair and clear; • have a lawful basis; and • not exploit children’s vulnerability. 3.3 Dark Patterns Dark patterns (ie, techniques designed to manipulate consumers into taking actions they may not other - wise take) are increasingly being scrutinised in the UK. They often appear as deceptive design elements in digital advertising or service functionality intended to mislead, pressure or confuse consumers into making purchases or signing up for services. Such techniques often fall within the remit of the ASA as “misleading
claims” – eg, false price reductions, countdown tim - ers, drip-pricing and subscription traps. Dark patterns likely also implicate consumer protec - tion regulation, including the DMCCA, the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013 (CCR) and the CRA. The CMA has published several open letters and taken action against businesses using such tactics. As of 6 April 2025, the DMCCA has designated certain dark patterns, such as fake reviews and “drip pricing” (omitting material information, including hidden fees), as being automatically unfair and illegal. 3.4 Sponsor Identification and Branded Content Sponsored and branded content must be clearly iden - tified as such. Advertisers must make it clear when content is paid for or sponsored, using clear and prominent disclosures to avoid misleading consum - ers. This is a significant issue in social media market - ing (see 5. Social/Digital Media ). There are particular rules around advertorials, where disclosures such as “Advertisement Feature” or “Advertisement Promotion” should be used. Failure to appropriately identify an advertorial is both a breach of the CAP Code and an automatically unfair practice under the DMCCA. Product placement is regulated on Ofcom-regulated television channels with signalling requirements (via a recognised logo) before and after the show and briefly in the ad break, in relation to commissioned program - ming. 3.5 Special Rules for Native Advertising Native advertising must be clearly recognisable as advertising material, and advertorials must be clearly distinguishable from editorial content. Section 2 of the CAP Code requires that native ads be clearly dis - closed, so that viewers are not misled into believing they are viewing organic content. The CAP Code refers specifically to the use of appro - priate labels for “advertorial” content, such as “Adver - tisement Feature”, “Ad”, “Advert”, “Advertising” or “Ad Feature”. Failure to identify or properly disclose
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