Please see below a communication we have received from Vodafone regarding a change in their advertising policy.
As you are aware, YouTube and other social media channels are playing an increasingly important role in the promotion of services in our market but they also come with similar risks to in-app advertising when it comes to services being targetted to channels predominantly used by kids. This risk has also been highlighted by the PSA in some recent enquiries.
In light of this and after engagement with likeminded merchants, Vodafone has decided to formally bring the social media channels in line with the policy regarding advertising in apps. From the beginning of April 2018 Vodafone will issue yellow cards for merchants having adverts placed any media channel designed to be of interest to children. The expectation is that channels containing videos particularly attractive to children will be blacklisted. Although this will formally take effect as of next month, Empello have been instructed to alert merchants and L1s via white cards to instances we find for the remainder of March 2018, we intend this to give time to ensure implementation of robust and extensive blacklists and to avoid merchants being issued any cards.
Whilst we expect everyone to be proactive in maintaining their own blacklist, if you would like advice on which channels you should be blocking, please contact your account manager.
Please do not hesitate to contact us if you need further information.