Advertising Education Forum

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.

On its website 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.^[1]

The AEF has established an 'academic' panel 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.^[2]

Members

As disclosed on the AEF website

• 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)
• Hasbro Europe
• Incorporated Society of British Advertisers (ISBA)
• Kraft Foods
• Masterfoods
• Mattel Europe
• McDonald's Europe
• Nestlé
• Ogilvy & Mather
• Toy Industries of Europe (TIE)
• World Federation of Advertisers (WFA)

PR/Lobbying Firms

• Ergo Communications/Global Consulting Group
• APCO Worldwide

Staff

• 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/

AEF Academic Network

• David Ashton Imperial College School of Medicine UK
• Stephan Aufenanger^ University of Mainz 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
• Jöel Bree^ 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

Notes

1. ^ Advertising Education Forum homepage, accessed 1 August 2007.
2. ^ Advertising Education Forum AEF Academic Network (AAN), accessed 1 August 2007.