Advertising Education Forum

AEF was set up by the World Federation of Advertisers and the European Association of Communications Agencies (EACA). The AEF claims that it is "academically neutral" on its own website. It is in fact a front group for the Advertising and Food industries, which, unsurprisingly, fund it. The World Federation of Advertisers describes itself as an organisation that "champions and defends marketers’ interests on key issues at both a global and EU level". This aim is pursued in relation to children and advertising by the following method: "WFA leads a global coalition of the advertising industry to identify, promote and replicate good practice and champion socially responsible initiatives, which go beyond compliance with industry standards." The AEF is listed as one project which helps to accomplish that aim.

On its own website the AEF makes no mention of the leading role of the WFA. Instead it claims:

The Advertising Education Forum (AEF) is a non-profit, academically neutral organisation that offers a comprehensive database of information on advertising and children and related issues. AEF provides open and free access to academic and scientific research on advertising and children and serves as a centre for information on the issue. AEF also provides information on advertising regulation in Europe.

The AEF in fact operates to undermine independent research on the effects of advertising on children and works in consort with other food and ad industry lobby groups. For example the Food Advertising Unit another front group run by the industry is a member and Mediasmart, another food/ad industry front group was also run from the offices of the Global Consulting Group the former PR agency of the AEF, and both are now clients of APCO Worldwide.

As with many other front groups the AEF has established an 'academic' panel to attempt to give itself legitimacy:

The AEF Academic Network is a global network of experts on the areas of children and advertising, industry self-regulation and childhood obesity. It was established in 2004 to support AEF objective of facilitating an informed debate on the issue of advertising to children. It represents the first structured organisation of its type, on these subjects, in the world. The AAN is a development of the AEF Academic Advisory Board (AAB) that was established in April 2000, and consisted of four members representing different areas of academic and scientific expertise in Europe.

AAB Analysis

The AAB is said by the AEF to have published three analyses of studies relating to advertising and children.

• AAB Opinion on Gunilla Jarlbro's report on Children and Television Advertising: the players, the arguments and the research, 1994-2000.
• AAB Opinion on the Sustain study TV Dinners: What's being served up by the advertisers?
• AAB Opinion on the AEF study of Parental Perceptions of the Influences in Their Children's Lives.

The first study conducted in 2000 was about the influence of advertising on children, surveying 5,000 parents in 15 EU countries. The study highlighted the issue of who finances research influencing research results. The study concluded that children under the age of 12 were unlikely to be able to discern the underlying motives and aims of advertising. The AAB analysis of this study focused on the issue of who had financed the study and stated that the " study’s aim is, therefore, explicitly polemical, and must be seen as a defence of the Swedish ban on television advertising directed to children (up to twelve years)".

Advertising and children

There are serious concerns amongst some investigators about the ethics of directing advertising at children. As Sharon Beder reminds us in her book, This Little Kiddy Went to Market: The Corporate Capture of Childhood, children are used to accepting information at face value, and cannot readily distinguish between information provided to inform and information provided to persuade. Until they reach a certain age they cannot critically evaluate the claims made by advertisers, nor understand the purpose. Some investigators consider that up to the age of 5 children are unable to distinguish between reality and what is presented to them on television. Hence television advertising is received uncritically and without reservation.

Studies commissioned by the US Surgeon General have demonstrated the failure of children under eight to understand persuasive intent. Even if they can differentiate advertisements from television programmes, (and sometimes the boundaries are blurred so that even adults don't recognise some content as advertising), about half of them still don't understand that the advertisements are trying to sell them something.

Multinational corporations have understood the value of advertising and marketing to children for a long time. Corporations began targeting their marketing messages directly to children during the 1980s, as affluent adult markets became saturated with consumer goods. Large firms established 'kids' departments and smaller firms specialised in marketing to children. A number of advertising industry publications were created such as Selling to Kids and Marketing to Kids Report. The academic literature began to feature studies of children as consumers.

In the US the amount corporations spent marketing to children under twelve increased by five times between 1980 and 1990 and ten times more during the 1990s. In 2004 around $15 billion was being spent marketing to children. Conferences on the best ways to market to children are held all over the world. There are also awards for the best advertisements and marketing campaigns with hundreds of entries.

Much marketing to children now consists of sales promotions such as direct coupons, free gifts and samples, contests and sweepstakes, and public relations exercises such as using celebrities and licensed characters to visit shopping centres and schools. These additional forms of marketing have supplemented rather than replaced advertising as the importance of the children's market has grown. Their aim however is the same as advertising.

The international children's market is increasingly attractive to transnational corporations who seek to make their brands and products popular in different cultural milieus. The food industry was a pioneer in these efforts. In 1997 Brandweek magazine noted that McDonald's was the favourite fast food all over the world and Coca-Cola the favourite drink.

AEF and Obesity

A report published by AEF in 2003 concluded "After a careful and thorough examination of the published literature on the role ofadvertising in obesity, we can conclude that there is no evidence for a direct causal relationship between food advertising and obesity levels. Some research has been conducted demonstrating that extended exposure to television may increase the chances of obesity. There is, however, no research that demonstrates a link between exposure to advertising for certain types of foods, and an increase in consumption of those foods amongst adults and children."

These conclusions are different to those expressed within the "review of the evidence report" prepared for the World Health Organisation in 2006. Amongst other conclusions they stated "The review confirms that the marketing of food to children is part of the obesity problem; however it is not the whole problem."

Members

As disclosed on the AEF website.

2004

Association of Advertisers in Ireland | British Toy and Hobby Association (BTHA) | Coca-Cola Europe | European Association of Communications Agencies (EACA) | Ferrero Group | Food Advertising Unit (FAU) | Grocery Manufacturers of America (GMA) | Hasbro Europe | Incorporated Society of British Advertisers (ISBA) | J Walter Thompson Europe | Kraft Foods | McCann Erickson | Masterfoods | Mattel Europe | McDonald's Europe | Nestlé | Ogilvy & Mather | Toy Industries of Europe (TIE) | Turner Broadcasting | World Federation of Advertisers (WFA)

2008

Association of Advertisers in Ireland | Coca-Cola Europe | European Association of Communications Agencies (EACA) | Ferrero Group | Food Advertising Unit (FAU) | Grocery Manufacturers of America (GMA) | Incorporated Society of British Advertisers (ISBA) | Kraft Foods | Masterfoods | Mattel Europe | McDonald's Europe | Nestlé | Ogilvy & Mather | World Federation of Advertisers (WFA)

2015

World Federation of Advertisers | TIE | ISBA | Coca Cola Europe | Advertising Association | Ferrero | Ogilvy | McDonalds Europe | AAI | Nestle

PR/Lobbying Firms

• Landmark

Former lobbying firms

• Ergo Communications/Global Consulting Group; APCO Worldwide

Staff

• Brian Ellis
• Francesca Fanucci
• Charlotte Hughes, joined late 2005
• Mariella Palazollo, left july 2005
• Tessa Pettman, left July 2005

Website and contact

• Langham House,

1b Portland Place London W1B 1PN United Kingdom

• http://www.aeforum.org/

Structure

The AEF is a private company limited by guarantee.

Company number 03807549

It was incorporated on 15/07/1999.

AEF Academic Network

• David Ashton Imperial College School of Medicine UK
• Stefan Aufenanger^ University of Hamburg Germany
• Emma Banister University of Lancaster UK
• Ingo Barlovic German Institute for Research on Children and Advertising Germany
• Sukhbinder Barn Middlesex University UK
• Erling Bjurström^ Linkoping University Sweden
• Göran Bolin University College Huddinge Sweden
• Anita Borch SIFO National Institute for Consumer Research Norway
• Dina Borzekowski John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health USA
• Joël Brée^ University of Caen France
• Valeria Bruno Freelance researcher Italy
• David Buckingham Institute of Education, University of London UK
• Sandy Bulmer Massey University New Zealand
• Margherita Caroli Department of Prevention and Public Health, Brindisi Italy
• Kara Chan Hong Kong Baptist University Hong Kong
• Daniel Chandler University of Wales UK
• Monique Dagnaud Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales France
• Maria D'Alessio University of Rome 'La Sapienza' Italy
• Teresa Davis University of Sydney Australia
• Regina De Assis MULTIRIO Empressa Municipal de Multimeios Brazil
• Els De Bens University of Ghent Netherlands
• Kevin Durkin University of Strathclyde, Scotland UK
• Lynne Eagle Middlesex University UK
• Laurel Edmunds University of Oxford UK
• Alexander Fedorov Russian Association for Film and Media Education Russia
• Marie-Louise Fry University of Newcastle, New South Wales Australia
• Adrian Furnham University College London UK
• Ingrid Geretschlaeger Media Education Consultancy, Academy of Lower Austria Austria
• Elisabeth Götze Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration Austria
• Jeffrey Goldstein University of Utrecht Netherlands
• Merris Griffiths University of Wales UK
• Jason Halford University of Liverpool UK
• Elizabeth Handsley Flinders University Australia
• Debra Harker University of the Sunshine Coast Australia
• Jacinta Hawkins Massey University New Zealand
• Andrew Hill University of Leeds UK
• Renee Hobbs Temple University USA
• Elena Hradiska Komensky University Slovakia
• Stephen Kline Simon Fraser University Canada
• Dale Kunkel University of Arizona USA
• Dafna Lemish University of Tel Aviv Israel
• Sonia Livingstone London School of Economics UK
• Elisa Manna CENSIS - National Centre for Social Studies Italy
• Dominika Maison University of Warsaw Poland
• Richard Mizerski University of Western Australia Australia
• Mario Morcellini Università di Roma 'La Sapienza' Italy
• Roxana Morduchowicz Buenos Aires University Argentina
• Avril Nash University of Hertfordshire UK
• Hanne Niss Copenhagen Business School Denmark
• Ernest North University of Pretoria South Africa
• Anna Olejniczuk-Merta Kozminski Academy of Entrepreneurship and Management Poland
• Özlen Özgen Ankara University Turkey
• Alberto Pellai Università degli Studi di Milano Italy
• Maria Piacentini Lancaster University UK
• Karen Pine University of Hertfordshire UK
• Francesco Pira University of Trieste Italy
• Chris Pole University of Leicester UK
• Barry Popkin University of North Carolina USA
• Christine Roland-Levy University of Paris 5 France
• Margareta Rönnberg University of Gävle Sweden
• Naya Roussou Intercollege, Nicosia Cyprus
• Lisa Sutherland University of North Carolina USA
• Julie Tinson University of the West of England UK
• Sarah Todd University of Otago New Zealand
• Birgitte Tufte Copenhagen Business School Denmark
• Liisa Uusitalo Helsinki School of Economics Finland
• Dirk Voorhoof University of Ghent Belgium
• Marie Watiez Sésame Consultants Canada
• Brian Young^ Exeter University UK
• Ruth Zanker Christchurch Polytechnic Institute of Technology New Zealand

^ indicates the original four AAB members

Academic Network newsletter

The AEF website list the Academic Network Newsletters. The latest edition listed is from October 2005 and is the third of three.