Determine whether a campaign is directed at, or likely to appeal to, children under applicable advertising codes.
Marketing & Sales
Advertising to Children and Young People Under Regulatory Codes
Learn to design and clear advertising aimed at or likely to reach children and young people, applying age-appropriate content rules, media placement restrictions, and data protection safeguards.
🗓️Duration5 training days
📚Content4 modules · 8 sessions
🎓On completionAccredited attendance certificate
About the programme
Course Overview
Advertising that reaches children carries additional legal and ethical obligations covering content, media placement, and data handling, and a campaign designed for a general audience can unintentionally breach child-specific rules once children make up a meaningful share of the actual audience. This course teaches how to recognise when child-specific rules apply and how to build compliance into a campaign from the brief onward. Participants learn to apply content standards that prohibit exploiting children's inexperience or credulity, assess category-specific restrictions such as those on high fat, salt, and sugar food advertising, and calculate media placement thresholds that determine where an advertisement can legitimately run. The course also covers influencer marketing that reaches young audiences and the data protection safeguards required when a digital campaign is likely to be accessed by children, including age-appropriate design and consent for data collection. Teaching draws on case review of published rulings, media placement calculation exercises, and campaign clearance simulations. By the end, participants can assess a campaign for child-audience risk and build the clearance checklist needed before it launches.
Expected Learning Outcomes
Apply content standards that prohibit exploiting children's inexperience, credulity, or sense of loyalty in advertising.
Assess category-specific restrictions, such as those on high fat, salt, and sugar food advertising to children.
Calculate audience composition thresholds to determine whether media placement rules restrict where an advertisement can run.
Review influencer content likely to reach young audiences for compliance with disclosure and content restrictions.
Apply data protection safeguards required when collecting or processing data from child users of digital campaigns.
Build a clearance checklist that flags campaigns needing child-specific compliance review before launch.
Who Should Attend
Marketing managers running campaigns for products with a mixed or youth-skewing audience.
Advertising compliance and legal staff reviewing creative aimed at broad or young audiences.
Media planners responsible for placement decisions affecting child audience exposure.
Influencer marketing managers working with creators who reach young followers.
Brand managers in food, toy, gaming, or entertainment sectors with child-relevant products.
Data protection officers assessing campaigns that may collect data from children.
Course Modules
Select any module to see its sessions and points.
01Determining Child-Relevant Advertising
2 sessions · 8 points
Session 1Identifying When Child-Specific Rules Apply
- Assess whether a campaign's product, media channel, or creative content is directed at or likely to appeal to children.
- Review historical audience data for a media channel to estimate the likely proportion of child viewers or users.
- Identify products, such as toys, confectionery, or games, that trigger child-specific advertising rules regardless of intended audience.
- Document the assessment rationale for whether a campaign is treated as child-relevant for compliance purposes.
Session 2Applying Core Content Standards
- Review creative content for exploitation of children's inexperience, credulity, or sense of loyalty to a character or brand.
- Assess whether advertising creates unrealistic expectations about a product's performance or the outcomes of ownership.
- Check that advertising does not directly exhort children to purchase or to ask an adult to purchase a product.
- Confirm that safety-related content, such as depicting product use, meets age-appropriate safety representation standards.
02Category-Specific Restrictions
2 sessions · 8 points
Session 1Food, Drink, and Health-Related Advertising to Children
- Assess a food or drink product's nutritional profile against thresholds that restrict advertising to children.
- Review media placement restrictions that limit when and where restricted food and drink advertising can appear.
- Check that health and nutrition claims aimed at children meet the heightened substantiation standard applied to this audience.
- Identify licensed characters or promotions in food advertising that trigger additional child-directed content restrictions.
Session 2Gaming, Digital Products, and In-App Purchases
- Review advertising for games or apps for compliance with rules on direct exhortation to purchase in-app content.
- Assess loot box or randomised reward mechanics referenced in advertising against current regulatory guidance and disclosure expectations.
- Check age rating and content descriptors are accurately reflected in advertising creative for games and digital products.
- Evaluate in-app advertising formats for compliance with rules restricting advertising density and content aimed at children.
03Media Placement and Influencer Marketing
2 sessions · 8 points
Session 1Calculating Media Placement Thresholds
- Calculate the expected child audience share for a proposed media placement against applicable regulatory thresholds.
- Apply scheduling restrictions that limit certain advertising categories around programming likely to attract children.
- Assess digital and social placements, including targeting settings, for unintended exposure to underage audiences.
- Adjust a media plan to reduce child audience exposure when a placement risks breaching applicable thresholds.
Session 2Influencer Marketing Reaching Young Audiences
- Assess an influencer's audience demographics to determine whether child-specific advertising rules apply to a campaign.
- Review influencer briefs to ensure sponsored content involving children or reaching children meets disclosure requirements.
- Check that influencer content does not include direct exhortations to purchase aimed at a young audience.
- Set contractual compliance requirements for influencers whose content is likely to reach a significant child audience.
04Data Protection and Clearance Processes
2 sessions · 8 points
Session 1Data Protection Safeguards for Child Audiences
- Apply age-appropriate design principles when a digital campaign or landing page is likely to be accessed by children.
- Assess data collection practices, such as registration forms or quizzes, for compliance with child data protection requirements.
- Review targeted advertising practices to confirm that profiling or behavioural targeting of children is appropriately restricted.
- Document parental consent mechanisms required before processing data from users identified as children.
Session 2Building a Child-Relevant Clearance Checklist
- Build a clearance checklist covering content, placement, and data protection criteria specific to child-relevant campaigns.
- Assign review responsibility for child-relevant campaigns to staff trained in the applicable advertising codes.
- Escalate borderline campaigns to legal or regulatory specialists before committing media spend.
- Review past rulings and enforcement cases periodically to keep the clearance checklist current with evolving guidance.
What the participant receives
4 course modules
A structured syllabus
8 training sessions
across 5 days
32 detailed points
Applied, detailed content
Accredited attendance certificate
On completing the programme
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