Viewers Support Outright Ban On Fast Food Commercials
More than three quarters of UK television viewers would support Government action to ban junk food advertising during children’s programming in an attempt to combat the growing problem of obesity amongst young people.
The BBC’s Healthy Britain poll of more than 1,000 adults shows that an outright ban on junk food advertising was supported across all age groups, with a staggering 81% of those aged over 65 and a further 60% of those aged between 18 and 24 prepared to back the idea.
Nearly two thirds of those surveyed said they would also support restrictions on point-of-sale advertising in supermarkets and over a third were overwhelmingly in favour of controversial plans to impose a tax on food that is high in salt sugar and fat.
Recent research from the Food Standards Agency has fuelled already vociferous calls for a ban on the promotion of fast food through television advertising and sponsorship by claiming to prove the link between junk food commercials and children’s deteriorating eating habits (see Junk Food Ads Found To Influence Children’s Diets).
However, pro-advertising groups believe that a ban on fast food commercials would lead to a significant reduction in quality television programmes for children. They argue that advertising could play a positive role in the promotion of healthier lifestyles and warn that “Any simplistic, knee jerk solution would fail to address the fundamental problem of obesity” (see Advertisers Warn Against Ban On Fast Food Commercials).
Culture Secretary, Tessa Jowell, recently softened her stance on the promotion of junk food to children and called on the advertising industry to use its “creativity” to tackle the problem of obesity. She rejected calls for a ban on fast food commercials and said that advertising messages promoting healthy eating could be far more effective than a well meaning Government campaign (see Advertisers Urged To Use Creativity In Obesity Battle).
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