Vol. 404 No. 1
43 Mr. Sherlock asked the Minister for Industry and Commerce if he will consider taking steps to control the advertising of children's toys in view of the stress that this can play on low income families, especially at Christmas; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
Current legislative controls in relation to advertising are contained in the Consumer Information Act, 1978 and in Regulations which gave effect to the EC Directive on misleading advertising. In general terms, these prohibit advertising which is false or misleading.
In addition to these controls all advertising in Ireland is subject to the code of advertising standards promoted by the Advertising Standards Authority for Ireland (ASAI). This code lays down guidelines in respect of, among other things, advertising as it relates to children. Also the RTE Authority implement their own code of standards for broadcast advertising which has detailed provisions in relation to advertising for toys and games.
I believe that the matter raised by the Deputy is one of those areas in advertising which are more appropriately dealt with by means of such codes of standards rather than by legislative controls and I do not therefore propose to introduce measures as suggested by the Deputy.
