Commercials For Kids Stay In Europe For Now

files/pictures/picture-35.jpgOver the past year, Sweden has been urging the European Union to ban TV advertising aimed toward children under 12, however policymakers have reassured the advertising and children's programming industry that they are moving away from the notion. Currently in Sweden, ads targeted to kids are banned, because the government is worried that children could unnecessarily influence their parents' shopping habits. In January, Sweden hopes to win favor for their plans when they take over the six-month rotating presidency of the EU. However, the European commissioner for culture, Viviane Reding, has reservations about the ban. Reding said, "Without such funding, broadcasters would either have to remove children's programs, with the result that [children] would watch adult programming, or buy cheap, foreign imports, which are generally of far lower quality than children's programming made in Europe." For now Europe's broadcasters and networks like the Cartoon Network, Fox Family and Nickelodeon can breathe a small sigh of relief, but we will have to see come 2001.