House of Commons refuses to ban loan ads on kids TV
Ministers sparked anger after refusing to ban payday loan (DRTV) adverts on kids’ TV.
MPs had called for the advertisements by firms such as Wonga to be pulled amid alarming evidence they were being used to “groom” children into borrowing.
Figures by the broadcasting watchdog Ofcom showed the number of payday loan adverts on television had risen from 17,000 in 2008 to 397,000 by 2012.
Martin Lewis, founder of the MoneySavingExpert.com website, has also called for a blanket ban on advertising aimed at children.
He told the Commons Business Select Committee last year: “If you think we have got problems now, you wait for 10 years’ time. Grooming is the right term. We are talking about a market that didn’t exist five years ago.”
But the Department for Business said the problem was “relatively small” and the advertising watchdog already applied “strict” rules.
Source: mirror.co.uk, 25 March 2014
