Marketing to children and young people in Norway

Looks at the legal position surrounding advertising to the young in Norway; this is regulated by the 1972 Marketing Control Act (MCA), but this has no total prohibition against direct advertising to children. Outlines the MCA’s concepts of “good marketing practice” and “unfair in relation to consumers” as these affect protection of children, and the work of the Consumer Ombudsman (CO) in monitoring whether marketing and business contract terms comply with the MCA. Moves on to the CO’s requirements on cinema advertising, and then to the 1992 Broadcasting Act’s prohibition of advertising which targets children. Concludes with the Internet: the CO works on the assumption that the MCA applies to all marketing, and there are detailed guidelines on websites, which have to consider the development stage of the target group and not take advantage of their credulity and lack of experience.