The Bailey Report, a government report commissioned in 2011 to review child brand sponsorship, recommended that advertisers should be banned from paying children under the age of 16 to promote brands, and the Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP) has said that it will now review whether such a change to the CAP Code is needed. CAP is responsible for advertising rules in the UK through the enforcement of the UK Code of Non-broadcast, Advertising, Sales Promotion and Direct Marketing (the CAP Code).
Although the CAP Code does not have legal force, it is best practice to comply with it, as failure to do so can result in bad publicity and ultimately an inability to obtain advertising space. CAP intends to consult interested parties and publish the results of its consultation in December 2012.