Across the country, gambling advertising has been a major point of contention among marketers and anti-gambling campaigners. Recently, the ACT government has taken a further step to reducing the potential harm of gambling ads by prohibiting them from being featured on local busses. According to an ABC News report, gambling is one of several commodities that is being banned from advertising on busses.
Junk food, alcohol, fossil fuels and weapons will also be banned. Shane Rattenbury, Minister for Territory and Municipal Services, states that the decision has been made as the government wants to ensure that messages displayed on busses are appropriate. Since the form of transport is provided by the government, it is important that any ads that are displayed on them are fit for viewing by passengers and onlookers of all ages.
He notes that a significant number of passengers are children, and gambling advertising has the potential to normalise the activity for young people. This is the same reason that gambling ads have been banned from sports broadcasts, as most of the at-home audience consists of youths. So, it is important that the advertisements they see do not promote activities that are inappropriate for young people.
The same logic applies for the prohibition of junk food ads on busses: "Across the board we're looking to promote healthier food to school children and so leaving junk food advertising off the buses helps contribute to that overall objective of delivering a healthier message to our kids," says Mr Rattenbury. “We need to make sure that kids are getting a healthier message given the level of childhood obesity we see in our community."
These new rules build on the current restrictions placed on ACT bus advertising. Political ads, religious ads, tobacco products and anti-social messages are already banned.
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