The Food and Drink Federation (FDF) has dismissed the call from consumer watchdog Which? for a 9pm watershed on the advertising of foods high in fat, salt or sugar (HFSS).
“Calls for bans on advertising around programmes popular with families are completely premature,” said the FDF. “The UK is now one of the most heavily regulated markets in Europe, and the new [advertising] rules should be given time to take effect.”
The current restrictions (introduced in April) banned adverts for HFSS foods from being shown in or around programmes aimed at, or which appeal to, children aged below 10. But Which? called for action when it discovered that more than half of the 20 programmes most watched by children under that age were not covered by current rules. “Adverts promoting ‘unhealthy’ foods were not allowed during programmes such as The Simpsons, which had a child audience of 163,200, but were allowed during programmes such as The X Factor, which had nearly three times the child audience at 442,300,” it claimed.
However, the Advertising Association (AA) backed up the FDF, claiming that a ban on advertising would not get to the core of the obesity issue. “Tackling obesity is about behavioural change,” said AA chief executive Baroness Peta Buscombe. “One has to question, therefore, why Which? is advocating a simplistic ban, which is likely to produce unintended consequences and won’t tackle the root cause of obesity. It would be far more effective if government and industry worked in partnership to help improve the health of the nation.”
She also noted that the food industry had made significant progress with regard to lowering salt, fat and sugar levels in recent years. “A recent AA Report showed that there have been clear and consistent falls in TV food ad spend for the past three years together with a significant reduction in the amount of food advertising children are watching and furthermore that many food manufacturers have significantly re-formulated their products to reduce salt, fat or sugar content.”
Which? food campaigner Miranda Watson admitted that there was no silver bullet in the fight against obesity, but claimed that tougher restrictions on the way unhealthy foods were marketed to children would play an important role in helping parents to instil healthy eating habits in their children.