Officials are investigating the Australian TV channel TV3, after a complaint was raised by a parent of a 9 year old girl who saw an advertisement for a poker web site while she was watching the cartoon 'The Simpsons'.
The father, John Stansfield, who is chief executive of the Problem Gambling Foundation, believes that the advertisement was in breach of a law banning online gambling.
TV3, however, stand by their decision to air the commercial, stating that it was pre-screened by the Television Commercials Approval Bureau, and that they acted in line with the Advertising Standards Authority Guidelines.
Roger Beaumont, the marketing director for TV3, said that “This ad was deemed acceptable outside of children's programme time – the same classification awarded to TAB and Lotto commercials.”.
The result of the complaint is likely to hinge on the definition of children's programme time – Melissa Gregan, a health promotion adviser for the Problem Gambling Foundation, also remembers seeing this advertisement during The Simpsons – once on November 15th at 7.40pm, and again on November 30th, at 5.09pm.
Mr Beumont says that TV3's definition of “children's programme time” was between 3pm and 4.30pm on weekdays, and 6.30am and 9am on Saturdays. The commercial was aired outside those times.
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