NewsLine Column: Weighty Issue For Adland
The Food Standards Agency’s recent report into advertising junk food to children provoked a massive debate and prompted a range of consumer groups to call for a ban on fast food commercials. However, as Britain faces ‘epidemic levels’ of obesity, MediaTel NewsLine’s assistant editor, Nicola Clark, argues it’s time for people to stop pointing the finger at advertisers and take responsibility for themselves.
A recent report from the Food Standards Agency provoked a flurry of headlines after revealing that children are strongly influenced by ads promoting soft drinks, sweets, snacks and sugar coated breakfast cereals.
The study, an exercise in stating the obvious, revealed there is ‘a lot’ of food advertising that could be contributing to the epidemic of expanding waistlines currently gripping the UK. This has prompted consumer groups to press for an end to the advertising of fast food products to children.
However, it seems somewhat short-sighted to lay the blame for the ill health of the nation’s cheeseburger chuffing children on advertisers alone. The idea that marketers are solely responsible for the eating habits of the masses also appears to rob both parents and children of any personal responsibility for their diets.
This blame culture was highlighted in the US by the recent class action lawsuit against McDonalds from parents of overweight children. The absurdity of the whole affair, which attempted to shoulder the fast food giant with responsibility for the health of its young and impressionable customers, was emphasised by one mother’s claim: “I have always believed McDonalds was healthy for my son.”
Advertisers and major corporations that intentionally deceive their customers should be made to pay damages. However, it appears slightly ludicrous to believe that McDonalds and its annual £42 million marketing budget is entirely responsible for a child’s decision to eat cheeseburger after cheeseburger.
McDonalds, which is up to its Egg McMuffins in lawsuits, successfully beat the claim and dismissed it as nonsense. However, this is not to say that the fast food giant is devoid of responsibility for the low nutritional content of its products, which can hardly be seen as the lynchpin of a healthy diet.
Consumer groups have criticised the advertising industry for failing to communicate the side effects of junk food and for glamorising unhealthy lifestyle choices. It’s pretty clear that Justin Timberlake, who features in McDonalds’ current ‘I’m Lovin’ It’ campaign, is not lovin’ his McDonalds on a daily basis, or he would not be able to maintain the build of a Greek god.
Advertising has never been solely about realism and marketers are all too aware that a spotty, fat child is never going to shift happy meals. However, advertising is a integral part of the fabric of our society, so surely it’s better for parents to educate their children to make informed choices and negotiate the media landscape rather than just trying to make it go away.
The fact is that consumers are not stupid, we know that it’s unhealthy to live on a diet of sugar coated cereals, chocolate bars, cheese strings (how can anyone eat those things) and McDonalds. However, advertisers do have an added responsibility when targeting children and it would be foolish to claim the £15 billion spent globally on advertising junk food has had no effect on the nation’s health.
Having said this, advertising does not possess mystical powers and children are not dragged kicking and screaming into McDonalds, neither will they stop eating junk food just because an ad warns it’s unhealthy. If advertising alone could make people embark on a fitness regime or eat more healthily – then surely the steady barrage of stick thin models that appear in so many campaigns would have done the trick by now.
The issue of advertising to children is a complex problem and curtailing food advertising to children will not provide a quick-fix solution to the nation’s health. Adopting a healthy lifestyle, spending less time watching TV and more time outside playing sports will. Ultimately it is the parents and children who make these decisions: when to watch TV, when to eat junk food and when to stop. Perhaps it’s time for people to start pointing the finger of blame at themselves, rather than laying at the door of advertisers.
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