Conar emphasizes the need for self-regulation of advertising by bets

“Annex 'X' aimed to meet the legislator's stimuli for advertising self-regulation and respond to the commitments made to the competent public authority for the regulation of betting, in the pursuit of socially responsible advertising, cooperating with the creation of a safe and regulated betting environment, and, above all, with a view to protecting children, adolescents, and vulnerable people,” highlights Conar in the statement.

One of Conar's main concerns is the adequacy of all advertising messages so that they are not directed at children and adolescents or more vulnerable groups, who could compromise their income with sports betting and online games.

Conar recalls that Annex X already provided rules against advertising aimed at children and now reinforces this in its statement. For the agency, it is essential that the sector itself regulates in a way that transmits messages appropriate to the adult public. It also emphasizes the non-participation of children and young people under 21 years old in advertising actions of bets.

Conar and the ethical rules for betting advertising

In light of recent measures by public authorities regarding betting advertising, the precautionary measures in the Direct Actions of Unconstitutionality 7721 and 7723, as well as Technical Note No. 6/2024, from the National Consumer Secretariat of the Ministry of Justice, Conar's management reaffirms its commitment to contributing to the establishment of a regular and responsible advertising environment for the betting segment, with full attention to the need to protect children, adolescents, and other people in vulnerable situations.

In this sense, it is important to reiterate the assumption of self-regulation provided for in Article 1 of the Brazilian Code of Advertising Self-Regulation, according to which advertisements must conform to the laws and regulations in force, in this case Laws No. 17.756/18 and No. 14.790/23, with emphasis on Ordinance SPA/MF No. 1.231/24.

Additionally, it should be noted that:

1 - Conar launched at the end of December 2023 Annex 'X' to the Brazilian Code of Advertising Self-Regulation, which can be fully known here: http://www.conar.org.br/pdf/CONAR-ANEXO-X-PUBLICIDADE-APOSTAS-dezembro-2023.pdf 

2 - Bringing together rules for betting advertising, the Annex was the result of a working group established within Conar, from agreements made with entities that bring together advertisers from the segment, being formed by 24 members appointed by the signatory entities of the agreements and by the founders and co-founder of Conar, a composition representative of the structures of the communications sector in the country, with the contribution of the management and technical staff of Conar.

3 - Annex 'X' aimed to meet the stimuli of the legislator to advertising self-regulation and respond to the commitments made to the competent public authority for the regulation of betting, in the search for socially responsible advertising, cooperating with the creation of a safe and regulated betting environment, and, above all, with a view to protecting children, adolescents, and vulnerable people.

4 - Thanks to frequent dialogue with similar entities around the world, the rules gathered in Annex 'X' take advantage of the experience in various markets, with a comparison of regulatory frameworks, which resulted in the verification of five basic principles:

* advertising identification;

* truthfulness and information;

* protection of children and adolescents;

* social responsibility and responsible gaming; and

* warnings about the impacts of the activity.

5 - As a starting point and fundamental premise, the principle of legality was reiterated in the preamble of the text, the mandatory conformity of the advertising offer with the legislation and regulation in force. It highlights the prerequisite of authorization by the competent public authority for the exploitation and for the advertising offer of betting.

6 - Rounds of consultations were held with the public authority, at the time in the area of Betting Coordination of the Ministry of Finance, with the signatory entities of the agreements, with the founding and co-founding entities of Conar, having incorporated the suggestions and considered all the comments and contributions presented.

7 - The work was dedicated to the elaboration of effective and proportionate rules, calibrated according to the advertising formats. Given the constant transformations of formats and advertising strategies, Conar is dedicated to monitoring the application of the rules and evaluating their effectiveness, considering the needs for improvement and updating.

8 - Regarding the protection of the child and youth public, the rules provide for the adoption of the most modern protective mechanisms:

* stipulating the use of age selection tools for brand profiles (age gating);

* the prohibition of targeting and insertion of advertising from the segment in programming or in content created, programmed, and directed to the public of children and adolescents; and

* the prohibition of the participation of children and adolescents, considering it an activity prohibited to such public, it being established that the models that star in the advertisements of the segment, must be and appear to be over 21 years of age.

The recommendation regarding the dissemination of advertising on social networks, which provides, in addition to the mechanisms of age restriction in brand profiles, the need for conformity of the advertising content generated by third parties on social networks, influencers and affiliates, reiterating that such disclosures also comply with the rules of the Code and the legislation and regulation in force, and the provision that betting advertising may only be disclosed by influencers who have, among their followers, the adult target audience.

9 - Annex 'X' came into effect in January this year. Since then, Conar has opened about 60 representations against betting advertising, having already judged more than half of them, in many cases with summaries published on our website, www.conar.org.br.

10 - In parallel, our prevention unit has already notified advertisers responsible for more than 700 advertising pieces. We use this resource when we identify elementary non-conformities in the ads, such as lack of warning phrases and age restriction, the exploitation of the presence of certain gain promises and advertising offers of previous advantages or entry bonuses.

11 - In order to cope with the large volume of advertising pieces broadcast on social networks, Conar started in August the use of a technological tool, configured with a methodology developed internally, which allows the semi-automated identification of potentially problematic ads, with human review and future actions in the face of the findings, a system that is being used for the monitoring of betting advertising. The technological tool used by Conar benefits from our international locution, mainly by our participation in Icas, International Council for Ad Self-Regulation, an entity of which Conar is a founding member.

12 - Although the novelty of the exploitation and regulation of the segment is recognized, with full effectiveness starting in January 2025, there is the expectation of imprinting a responsible advertising environment for betting, contributing to the efforts and measures adopted by public authorities. The experience in various sectors demonstrates that advertisers, agencies, and other actors in the advertising ecosystem understand that the greater value of their communication is the credibility gained with consumers, through compliance with legislation and regulation, as well as by the unrestricted adoption of the principles of responsible advertising expressed Brazilian Code of Advertising Self-Regulation.

The direction of Conar



Source: GMB