Youth advertising in Russia

Citation

Anyukhina, I. and Gurieva, Y. (2010), "Youth advertising in Russia", Young Consumers, Vol. 11 No. 3. https://doi.org/10.1108/yc.2010.32111cab.001

Youth advertising in Russia

Article Type: Legal briefing From: Young Consumers, Volume 11, Issue 3

Introduction

With respect to advertising and marketing, children are of primary interest in Russia, as they are in most countries. The Russian legal environment is quite aggressive when advertisers try to affect children’s emotions or promote goods for children. The regulation of youth advertising in Russia consists basically of mandatory requirements set out in Federal Law “On advertising” No.38-FZ (“Law on advertising”). There are general rules on protection of children that are to be observed by each advertiser, and specific rules on baby food advertising, and use of children’s appearance in certain types of advertising.

It is important to note that the regulation relates to protection of minors and young people up to 18 years old. Obviously, it is quite often not possible to identify whether an advertisement is addressed to 18 year old people or only to 19 year old people. Thus, practically, the regulations will apply if an advertisement might be addressed to people younger than 19 years.

General remarks

One should keep in mind that in order to protect minors against unfair exploitation of their credulity or inexperience, Russian law requires the observation of specific rules.

First of all advertising shall not cast parents and tutors in a bad light, or undermine minors’ confidence in them. Thus if an advertisement’s concept is based on relations between parents, as well as grandparents, and their children, or includes any referrals to such relations, the advertisement shall not criticize parents, grandparents or refer to their unlawful actions or unethical behaviour either. The practice shows that the Russian regulator of advertising activity, Federal Antimonopoly Service of Russia (“FAS Russia”) understands any action that even imply actions, contradicting to effective legislation, as unlawful.

Second, any advertisement shall not induce children to convince their parents or other persons to buy the advertised goods. In other words an advertisement must be addressed to parents, not to children. However, if advertised goods are for minors between 0 and 3 years, advertising could address them, since the minors are not able to understand the advertisement’s content, and actually such advertisement are addressed to their parents.

It is very important to remember this rule when advertising promotions. As a rule, most producers of children’s goods try to promote their goods with free gifts to children and advertise respective promotion as “gifts to children”. One must note that such advertising in Russia entails legal risks. In order to minimize the risks it is advisable to structure such promotions and their advertising according to the scheme “buy it and receive a free gift for your child”.

Another important requirement is that advertising shall not give to minors the false impression that goods being advertised are affordable for all families whatever their level of income. Luxury goods could not be advertised to children in a way that they could be bought by any family. This rule sometimes causes questions, since Russia is a large country, where different regions have different levels of economic development. In this respect when one decides to develop an advertising concept, he or she should consider the economic level of each respective region where the ad is to be distributed.

Also Russian law prohibits advertisements causing children to believe that if they possess the goods advertised they will have an advantage over other people of the same age. Comparison advertising is generally a hard question for Russian regulations. As regards children, comparison with those who have not the advertised goods is not allowed in general. The same relates to advertising which may cause minors to have an inferiority complex if they do not possess the advertised or promoted goods.

No advertising shall cause children to have an inferiority complex in connection with their appearance. Overweight, skin, teeth, hair or any other problem highlighted in advertisements should refer to adults only, if possible. In case advertised goods are for children only, it is advisable that such advertising is as positive as possible and does not refer to any comparisons and socialization effects.

In an advertisement a child shall understand the level of skills required for children to use the goods advertised. In other words an advertisement shall not understate the level of skills required for children to use the goods advertised, taking into account the age group for which the goods are intended. If some qualifications or experience is required it should be clearly stated in such an advert. Legal lines and footnote disclaimers in TV adverts will not be of use in this regard.

An advertiser should remember that showing minors in dangerous situations is not permitted in Russia. Depicting a child in a house on fire, during an earthquake, as well as sitting at the edge of a roof or with wild predatory animals will bring administrative liability under Russian law.

The above general rules must apply absolutely to all types of advertisements. However, as we noted before, there are also some specific rules depending on the type of an advert.

Alcohol, tobacco, medicines, weapon and gambling

It is prohibited in Russia to address advertising of alcohol, beer beverages, tobacco and cigarettes, medicines and medical equipment, weapons and gambling games. In other words no advertising should encourage children to buy and even use the listed products.

It is worth mentioning that it is also prohibited to depict children in advertisements of alcohol, tobacco and weapons. This applies both to real appearance of children or their pictures i.e. graphic images. Advertising of beer and gambling shall not use any human appearance at all.

Baby food

Another specific requirement applies to food for babies. In Russia baby food is subject to mandatory certification with issuance of the respective compliance certificate by the Russian authorised body. Only food that has undergone mandatory certification could be advertised as a food for children from 1 to 3 years. There were a number of cases in Russia when yogurt advertisements were considered as misleading the consumers. FAS Russia decided that such advertising implied that the advertised yogurts are baby food, when in fact the yogurts were not certified as such goods.

As regards certified baby food, their advertising shall not inform consumers that the products may substitute mother’s milk or declare the advantages of artificial feeding.

If the baby food may actually substitute mother’s milk and products during the first year rations for a baby, respective advertisements of such baby food shall include information on age limitation for consuming and notification that professional consultation is needed.

There are no requirements on particular size (if printed or TV broadcast advertisement) or length (in radio broadcast advertisement) of such notifications. In practice such notifications should be readable/perceivable to a normal person, i.e. a person without disabilities.

Non-compliance with the above mentioned rules may result in the administrative liability imposed by FAS Russia which amounts from RUR 40,000 to RUR 500,000 (approx. € 950 to €11,650).

Related issues

Use of child’s appearance

Use of a person’s image or appearance in advertising without their prior written approval is forbidden in Russia. The same relates to the appearance of children. In order to be authorized to use a child’s picture the advertiser shall receive written consent of his/her parents or guardian. Parents of the depicted child are entitled to receive consideration for such use of a child’s image.

Personal data protection

Advertising often involves the use of personal data of persons, depicted and participating in advertising in other ways. Please remember that the use of such information as name, age, address of a child and so on should be approved by his/her parents or guardian in writing.

The parties involved in data handling/processing must implement appropriate technical and organizational measures to protect duly received personal data. The international transfer of personal data is only permitted where it is obvious that the recipient has in place appropriate technical and organizational measures to protect duly received personal data. The unauthorized collection and/or use of personal data will bring to administrative and civil liability.

Conclusions

The aforementioned requirements, both of general and more specific nature, relate to advertising to children in Russia. These rules apply along with the general advertising rules provided by Russian law, including the non-misleading and fair advertising, Russian language for all adverts, and others.

Acknowledgements

Published in conjunction with the Global Advertising Lawyers Alliance (www.gala-marketlaw.com). GALA is an alliance of lawyers located throughout the world specializing in advertising law.

Irina Anyukhina Partner, Head of Intellectual Property Practice, ALRUD Law Firm, Russia Yulia GurievaSenior Attorney, ALRUD Law Firm, Russia