Our commitment to responsible advertising.
We are proud to design products that help children get the most out of play time. Our toys can help children learn about themselves, others and the world around them, help them to develop new skills and are a key part of growing up.
Like other sectors, we use advertising as a way to share information about our products. Given 60% of toys are new to the market each year, it’s an important driver of competition, and helps keep the EU toy industry at the forefront of innovation.
What makes us different, is that our products, and our ads, are made with children and their families in mind. When it comes to designing toys safety is our priority. When it comes to advertising them, it’s communicating responsibly.
For us, communicating responsibly means making sure our advertising is legal, decent, honest and truthful, in accordance with the standards in place across Europe. Because our toys are made for children, we go further, and make sure that the advertising we make is appropriate for children and respects their understanding of the world.
We first set out principles for advertising to children and their families back in 1994. They still work. In 2014, less than 0.1% of the 68,988 ads complained about in Europe were about toys.
Since we created our principles, advertising has changed dramatically. Who could have imagined that two in three of children in the EU would use a mobile phone? Or that VHS, which is mentioned in the principles, would be virtually extinct!
It’s for this reason that we decided it was time to refresh the principles. However, the values at their core remain the same. We continue to be committed to making sure that all of our commercial communications with children and their families:
- Comply with the relevant national and European legal and self-regulatory frameworks
- Are honest and truthful
- Promote safe play
- Are socially responsible
- Respect children’s privacy