Mortgage News
MPs push for payday loan advert ban on children’s TV
A committee of MPs has called for a ban on payday loan advertising on children’s television, but the industry has dismissed their concerns.
Adverts could expose children to the idea that loans were “fun, easy and an appropriate way to access finance”, the Business Select Committee report said, the BBC reports.
But one major lender – Wonga – said it was a “myth” that it advertised on children’s TV or programmes.
It is also against the code of practice of one major payday loan trade body.
Figures from regulator Ofcom showed that children aged four to 15 saw three million payday loan TV adverts in 2008, but this had grown to 596 million in 2012, accounting for 0.7% of adverts seen by this age group.
This meant that the average child aged four to 15 saw 70 payday loan adverts last year.
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Yet only 3% of payday loan adverts seen by four to 15-year-olds were on children’s channels, equivalent to two per child on these channels over the year.
Citizens Advice and Labour leader Ed Miliband have already called for a ban of these adverts on children’s TV.