After a year of investigations into payday loans companies’ TV adverts, the Broadcast Committee of Advertising Practice (BCAP) has come up with new guidance on how they should behave.
The advertising watchdog announced that it considers adverts which prompt you to take out a payday loan to go on holiday, go on a shopping spree or fund an active social life as ‘frivolous spending’, something which lenders must stop advertising as acceptable.
Also, BCAP issued warnings regarding the use of upbeat jingles, animations and humorous tones, due to ‘the potential to distract viewers from the seriousness of the decision to apply for a loan’. As well as this, it is important that children are not targeted at all by TV adverts.
The guidance was welcomed by the Consumer Finance Association (CFA) chief executive Russell Hamblin-Boone. Short-term lenders such as QuickQuid are represented by the CFA.
He said: “CFA members have consistently shown a commitment to only reaching appropriate audiences so we look forward to providing a detailed response to the consultation on scheduling of TV ads for payday loans.”
The guidance agreed that it was acceptable to advertise payday loans as viable options in the event of an unexpected cost, such as a boiler breakdown two weeks before the next payday.
Lending rules were changed at the beginning of the year, and adverts are being targeted in an attempt to clampdown on the number of people who are ‘allowed’ to get into spiralling payday loans debt.
