Which? Report Says Advertisers Still Pushing Junk Food On Children
Consumer group Which? has today released a report claiming the use of characters to promote high fat, salt and sugar foods undermines parental efforts to help children eat healthily, drawing criticism from the Advertising Association.
The AA has said that the ‘Cartoon Heroes and Villains’ report, which warns that biscuits and other snacks are being promoted as ideal for school lunchboxes when in fact they are high in fat and sugar, is “out of date”.
The report goes on to name and shame some of the worst offenders and gives ‘The Simpsons’, ‘Bratz’ and ‘Shrek’ as examples, as well as new characters created by the advertisers themselves. ‘The Simpsons’ have been used to promote Butterkist Popcorn, ‘Bratz’ lent their name to ‘Bratz’ Fabulous Biscuits and Shrek The Third featured on Kellogg’s Frosties pack with the incentive of free cinema tickets.
Three-quarters of parents interviewed by Which? said they thought it was irresponsible for advertisers to feature cartoon characters on unhealthy foods and wanted an end to the practice.
Sue Davies, chief policy adviser at Which?, said: “There are precious few examples of cartoons being used to promote healthy products.”
However, the Advertising Association has hit out at the report, arguing that the industry has already made moves to curb the practice.
Earlier this year, Ofcom’s first set of rules on junk food advertising to children came into effect (see Ofcom To Phase In HFSS Restrictions). The new rules banned HFSS food ads being shown during or around programmes that are made for or could appeal to children under 10.
Sue Eustace, the Advertising Association’s director of public affairs, said: “This report is out of date and the conclusions drawn are no longer relevant. The analysis shown in this report took place between March and June 2007 before the advertising codes were changed on 1 July 2007.
“The new codes, which were introduced in response to this issue, prohibit the use of licensed characters and celebrities popular with children in advertisements targeted at children.”
Advertisers and media owners themselves have also made attempts to advertise in a more responsible manner, with restrictions introduced across media.
In July, ISBA published a new set of guidelines for its members’ websites concerning online food and drink ads (see ISBA Sets Out Guidelines For Online Junk Ads), whilst in April, CAP also enforced new rules that the advertisement of food and soft drinks should not encourage excessive consumption and should not use promotional offers in an ‘irresponsible’ way such as the use of characters of celebrities to promote products directly targeted a pre-school or primary school children (see New Food And Drink Ad Restrictions To Extend To Non-Broadcast).
Advertising Association: 020 7828 2771 www.adassoc.org.uk