Internet Pets: Setting the Standard for Online Pet Advertising in Europe

Internet Pets: Setting the Standard for Online Pet Advertising in Europe

Margaret Donnellan

Dogs Trust UK

Laura Vallance

Dogs Trust UK

Pet Advertising Advisory Group UK - Overview

Background

• Advisory group made up of animal welfare organisations and specialists working to promote responsible pet advertising

• Established in 2001 to combat growing concern regarding the irresponsible advertising of pets for sale, rehoming, or exchange in newspapers, magazines, etc.

• In recent years, PAAG has become aware of the phenomenal increase in online trade

• UK Government stated they are extremely unlikely to regulate in this area

• In an ideal world, we would prefer that animals were not advertised online, but in the twenty-first century, PAAG acknowledges that consumers turn to their computers when looking to buy or sell almost anything – including pets

• In the absence of legislation, we realised that we needed to work with classified websites to help them clean up their pet sections

• We developed a set of minimum standards and asked some of the UK’s leading classified websites to comply with them

Minimum Standards

Sample Adverts• Pit Bull Terrier (banned breed in UK)

Sample Adverts• American Bulldog X Pit Bull Terrier

Sample Adverts• Pregnant dog

Sample Adverts• Primates

Minimum Standards - Extracts

Websites must:

•"...require all vendors to include a recent photograph of the animal that they are advertising and monitor for suspicious usage of images...”•“…require that all adverts display the age of the animal advertised…”•"...ban adverts offering pregnant animals for sale...”•"...provide a clearly visible function for purchasers to report illegal or inappropriate adverts...”

Launch of Minimum Standards and Next Steps

• We achieved UK Government endorsement for our minimum standards in September 2013

• Seven websites attended a Parliamentary launch, where they committed to complying with the standards

• PAAG then launched a six month moderation period, during which we monitored the websites for compliance

• We recruited a team of approximately 80 volunteers to engage in this moderation

Moderation Period

• In December 2013 we trained our moderators to monitor for minimum standards breaches

• From January – June 2014, the moderators routinely monitored the sites, reporting inappropriate adverts and recording breaches with PAAG staff

• PAAG produced reports for the UK Government (Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) and individual reports for the websites at the six week, fourteen week (mid-process) and six month periods

Adverts Reported – Six Week Report

Adverts Reported – Fourteen Week Report

Adverts Reported – Six Month (Final) Report

Findings and Conclusions

• Overall the moderation period has demonstrated that self-regulation can work.

• The moderation project has proved that when websites are willing to put more effort into the process, to engage in honest communication, and to act upon feedback from PAAG, they are far more likely to meet and potentially exceed the minimum standards

• The moderation process has proved that the standards are indeed a minimum, and that there are areas where websites could choose to go further (and in some cases have)

Next Steps – Second Wave of Moderation

• The use of volunteers over the six month period has shown the level of public interest in this work, and PAAG hopes that this will continue

• PAAG is currently calling on the public to join the fight against illegal and unscrupulous adverts

• We need to consider new and innovative ways to educate consumers about looking for a pet, online or otherwise

Consumer Awareness Video

PAAG International

• IPAAG – the Irish Pet Advertising Advisory Group – was set up this year and is currently developing minimum standards and engaging websites

• PAAG UK is also assisting in the establishment of PAAG Australia

Any Questions?

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