New proposal for global, legal junk food ad ban
Jess Halliday
Food Navigator
March 17, 2008
The International Obesity Taskforce (IOTF) and Consumers
International (CI) have jointly developed the
International Code on Marketing of Food and
Non-Alcoholic Beverages to Children, which they plan to
present to the World Health Assembly next month.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) received a mandate
last year to develop its own set of recommendations on
marketing to children. It is expected to begin its
consultation process over the next 12 months.
In the meantime, the IOTF and CI will be urging WHO
member governments to go with their recommendations when
the WHO begins its consultation.
Dr Tim Lobsten, director of childhood obesity programmes
at IOTF, said the code is a model that gives a firm
basis for the WHO's own recommendations.
According to IOTF, 177 million children under 18 are
presently clinically overweight or obese, and therefore
under threat from obesity-related diseases. This
includes 22m overweight children under 5.
It is predicted that, by 2015, some 2.3bn adults will be
overweight, of which 700, will be obese.
"The time has come for all concerned to recognise that
an international code, enforceable in law, is the best
way forward," said Professor Arne Astrup of the
University of Copenhagen, president to the International
Association for the Study of Obesity (of which IOTF is
the policy and advocacy arm).
"Voluntary measures and individual pledges from some
companies offer inadequate protection when children are
being targeted in the internet, by mobile phone as well
as via television, and especially in developing
countries where these kinds of calorie-dense foods can
have a devastating impact on children's health."
There are some national enforceable programmes in place,
such as the UK restrictions on advertising foods that
are high in fat, sugar and salt (HFSS) around television
programming aimed at children. This is accompanied by
some parallel non-broadcast regulations.
However the IOTF said this "fell short" of imposing a
9pm watershed for HFSS food ads to kids on television -
one of the key features of the new code.
This has proved a controversial point for debate, and
some of those opposing it have pointed out that new
viewing technologies mean people no longer watch
television in a liner manner, but can chose what they
want to watch when.
In December a number of global food companies including
Nestle and Kellogg signed a pledge to stop advertising
'junk' food to children under 12.
In addition, the CIAA (Confederation of the Food and
Drink Industries of the EU) drew up some principals on
advertising in 2004, which have been adopted by some
companies. A spokesperson for the CIAA told
FoodNavigator.com recently: "The food industry has
demonstrated quite clearly that we are serious about
tackling obesity."
However the IOTF and CI beg to differ, saying that such
current self-regulatory proposals are mainly restricted
to the EU and US, and only really cover children up to
the age of 12 years.
"The CI and the IOFT believe these limitations do little
to tackle the shocking increases in obesity and other
diet-related diseases seen in the developed and
developing world," they said.
In the developing world and emerging economies where
newly affluent consumers have more disposable income to
spend on non-traditional foods, Western-style eating is
becoming more popular.
For instance, in India and China there is now more
demand for meat and dairy ingredients, and prepared food
products. Traditional eating habits there have been
based around preparation from scratch in the home, using
locally available ingredients.
In South East Asia 19.9 per cent of under-18s were
overweight or obese in 2006; this is expected to rise to
28.2 per cent by 2010.
The proposals
The IOTF and CI code covers "energy-dense, nutrient-poor
foods that are high in fat, sugar and salt". It calls
for:
* A ban on TV and radio adverts promoting unhealthy food
between 6am and 9pm
* No marketing of unhealthy food using new media, such
as websites, social networking sites and text messaging;
* No promotion of unhealthy food in schools;
* No inclusion of free gifts, toys or other collectables
that are attractive to children;
* No use of celebrities, cartoon characters or
competitions.