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FOOD ADVERTISING/
POLICIES
source: www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/
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Concerns over the effects of advertising to kids & youth have raised issues about the need for tighter controls on food advertising to children…- compared with North America, much of Europe possesses a different social attitude toward food consumption. In general, Europeans consume a more balanced diet. The United Kingdom, however, has one in 10 children under age five obese, and so too, has Australia, which has been identified as the second fattest nation after the United States;
- in the United States, there are currently few policies or standards for food advertising and marketing aimed at children. The advertising industry maintains self-regulatory policies established by the Children's Advertising Review Unit (CARU) of the National Council of Better Business Bureaus. CARU's guidelines apply to all forms of children's advertising, but it has no legal authority over advertisers and can only seek voluntary compliance;
- concerns about advertising on children's television were first raised in the early 1970s by the children's advocacy group, Action for Children's Television (ACT), which urged the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to prohibit or limit advertising directed at children. In 1974, the FCC required specific limitations on the overall amount of advertising allowed during children's programs and clear separation between program content and commercial messages. In 1978, the FTC formally proposed a rule that would ban or severely restrict all TV advertising to children. The proposal provoked intense opposition from the concerned industries. In 1990, children's advocacy groups persuaded Congress to pass the Children's Television Act that included limiting the amount of commercial time during children's programming to 10.5 minutes per hour on weekends and 12 minutes per hour on weekdays. These time limits remain in effect today;
- online advertising and marketing aimed at children is virtually unrestricted. In 1997, CARU revised its Children's Advertising Guidelines to include a new section addressing the Internet. In 1998, Congress passed the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), which directed the FTC to develop rules restricting certain data collection practices and requiring parental permission for collection of personal information for children under 13. This law went into effect in 2000;
- the majority of US schools and states do not have any policies about commercial marketing activities in schools. The US General Accounting Office (GAO) report found that only 19 states currently have statutes or regulations that address school-related commercial activities. New York and California have adopted laws prohibiting or restricting many types of commercial promotional activities in public schools. Recently, there have been successful local initiatives to eliminate soft drink vending machines and advertising from schools;
- concerns about the effects of television advertising on children are shared by a number of European countries and Australia. The Nordic countries are at the forefront of protecting children from the effects of advertising. Sweden has the strictest controls in Europe and in 1991 instituted a ban on television and radio advertising targeted at children under the age of 12. In Norway and Austria, all television advertising to children is banned. In Belgium, it is forbidden to broadcast commercials during children's programs as well as during the 5 minutes before and after them. Australia does not allow ads during television programming for preschoolers;
- starting on 1st January 2005, Ireland imposed a ban on TV advertisements for candy and fast food. Wrappers now must carry warnings like, "Fast food should be eaten in moderation as part of a balanced diet," or, "Snacking on sugary food and drinks can damage teeth." The new code also prohibits using celebrities and sports stars to promote junk food to children;
- in the United Kingdom, the government’s concern about food advertising aimed at children is part of a larger push to reduce spending on the National Health Service (NHS). The United Kingdom has reintroduced the Children’s Food Bill, and is encouraging the various regulatory authorities to be more strict in controlling advertising and labelling. The White Paper on public health, published on November 2004 proposes an outright ban before the 9pm watershed as an ultimatum to force food and drink companies to implement voluntary restrictions. There is no agreed definition of what junk food means, but the Food Standards Agency has issued guidelines on the sort of levels of fat, sugar and salt that are good for a child's health. Manufacturers will either have to change the nutritional content of what they are selling, or stop advertising on children's television;
- in Belgium, France, Portugal and Vietnam, all marketing is banned in schools. Greece has also enacted legal limitations on children's food advertising.
The advertising industry vigorously defends the right to advertise to children against growing pressure for a ban on all commercials shown during children's programmes. Individual advertisers, however…- in Australia, individual advertisers including McDonald's, Coca-Cola, Nestle and Cadbury Schweppes have announced their own measures to regulate advertising targeting children in recent years. At the same time, the Australian Association of National Advertisers, which represents major advertisers and includes board members from Nestle, Coca-Cola and Kraft, believes that advertising is not a contributory factor to obesity;(1)
- however, national advertisers including Coca-Cola, Masterfoods and Nestle are behind a $10 million advertising campaign launched on June 09, 2005 that encourages Australian children to eat healthy food, exercise and eat treats in moderation. The "eat well, play well, live well" campaign, which features a cartoon character called Jo Lively and his dog Jive, is the advertising industry's answer to calls from nutritionists and children's lobby groups for restrictions on food advertising targeting children. The campaign, which is aimed at children 6 to 12 and their parents, will include TV, radio, print, outdoor and cinema ads; (2)
- junk food moved "a little closer to becoming as socially unacceptable as cigarettes", a Los Angeles Times editorial said after the food giant Kraft decided to stop advertising biscuits and sugary drinks to children in the United States. From April 2005, Kraft stops advertising products such as Kool-Aid beverages, Oreo, and others in US magazines, TV and radio programs aimed at children aged 6 to 11; (1)
- in England and Scotland, Coca-Cola is withdrawing advertising on its 4,000 vending machines in secondary schools. The images of children playing will be replaced by an image of a beverage can. Coca-Cola has also committed to replacing some carbonated beverages with water and juice, thus providing children a broader, healthier range of selections. It is believed to be the first time the company has bowed to pressure from health lobbyists anywhere in the world. (3)
(1) Nick Galvin, “Battle to junk food ads hots up”, Sydney Morning Herald, January 19, 2005.
(2) Lara Sinclair, “Food giants push health message”, The Australian, June 09, 2005. [ www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/
0,5744,15552844^27699,00.html]
(3) Colin Holbrook, “International Implications of Obesity Litigation in the United States”, GE Insurance Solutions, Forum – Casualty & Environment, Issue n. 15, 3-4 Quarter 2005.
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