Watchdog to ease rules on ads around TV animation programs

By Bahk Eun-ji

Hong Eun-hee, 37 has been experiencing a problem whenever she goes to her neighborhood pharmacy with her 22-month-old daughter.

Even though her daughter can’t speak yet, she doesn’t hesitate to pick up children’s vitamin or bandage kits with “Pororo” characters on their packaging. Hong’s daughter is enamored with “Pororo the Little Penguin,” a Korean computer-generated animated cartoon series, and she recognizes the show’s characters on the packaging of various products.

This problem will not go away soon, however, since last June, the Korea Communications Commission (KCC) has pushed for a policy that enables terrestrial broadcasters to air commercials using animated characters before and after a program is aired. Before the proposed policy, the nation’s media watchdog regulated TV commercials using cartoon characters that aired right before or after a program in order to protect children who can’t recognize the difference between TV commercial and shows.

“This regulation has hindered animation companies from attracting investment and capital,” Kwak Jin-hee, the director of the Programming and Evaluation Policy Division at the KCC, said.

The director said owing to its huge potential, animation as a key creative industry has been growing greatly. Thus, it is time to ease the regulations on advertisements with animated characters that are targeted to children in order to accelerate the development of the industry.

“The money that animation production companies receive from broadcasting companies for broadcasting their animation is around 10 percent of their production costs,” Kwak said.

Furthermore, terrestrial broadcasters tend to avoid broadcasting animation because the advertisement profits from the animation are much less than their purchase costs, the director added.

She cited “Pororo the Little Penguin” as an example of the potential of the Korean animation industry. The animated show has been sold to over 120 countries, including France, the U.K. and Canada.

“The animation led to the development of more than 2,300 Pororo-related products such as children’s toys, supplies and clothes,” she said. “Some 220 companies produce ‘Pororo’ goods, and the economic impact is estimated to be 5.7 trillion won.”

According to data from the Korea Creative Content Agency, the size of the global animation market is around $13.8 billion, and U.S. animation accounts for the greatest market share with 39.1 percent or $5.4 billion (6 trillion won). As of 2011, Korea accounts for only 3.5 percent or 528.5 billion won of this market.

“The animation industry should be greatly emphasized, as animated media contents are necessary for the development of a country with strong information technology, which is one of the Korean government’s major goals,” the director said.

Civic groups and school parents’ unions, however, strongly disagreed with the government’s move. An official of the Seoul Young Men’s Christian Association (Seoul YMCA) said the government’s decision will make children confused about the differences between reality and animated characters when they see the commercials right after the animated TV shows.

“Since 1991 in Sweden, TV commercials targeting children under the age of 12 that aired after an animated TV show have been strictly regulated,” the Seoul YMCA official, who declined to be named, said. “This so-called Swedish style of regulation is increasingly adopted for protecting children in Europe,” he added.

Parents themselves, however, have mixed reactions to the government’s decision.

Lee Ju-sang, 46, father to a 6-year-old boy and owner of a children’s cafe in Seoul, said he supports the deregulation “because it will help boost the economy and promote consumer confidence.” “Well-made animated shows will continue to be made when they make adequate profits.”

In contrast, Cha In-suk, father to a 32-month-year old boy, said he opposes the deregulation, as his son has already begun pestering him to buy products that feature animated characters on their packaging.

“I think I will not even let my children watch animated TV shows anymore,” he said.

The KCC announced on Dec. 3 a revision to the law, allowing commercials that featured animation characters to be aired only twice before or after a program, with the running time limited to a maximum 1 minute and 30 seconds.