THE GOVERNMENT is tackling childhood obesity in many ways – and one of them is a ban on advertising foods high in fat, salt and sugar (HFSS). Retailers can’t advertise junk food on television before 9pm or online at any time.
The new rules have been in force since January, and no one has yet revealed whether they are working. What we do know is that the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has found two supermarkets guilty of breaching the rules. •Lidl Northern Ireland paid an influencer to promote bakery goods on Instagram. •Iceland promoted its confectionary on the Daily Mail website. The ASA has instructed both supermarkets to take the adverts down. This seems a mild penalty, but it’s a fairly mild regulation. Whatever children are doing on social media, it probably isn’t reading the Daily Mail. Taking adverts for HFSS foods off television is fairly sound – but, again, young people are not watching lots of TV, as they are all going made on social media.
One interesting fact did come to light as a result of the ban. Iceland told The Guardian that it asked its suppliers to let it have “nutrient profile information” on the goods they supply, but was aware of some gaps in the data it received. This is meant to explain why the advert slipped through – because Iceland did not immediately notice that Swizzels Sweet Treats, Chupa Chups Laces, Choose Disco Stix and Haribo Elf Surprises are high in sugar.
The problem that this has revealed is: if Iceland’s suppliers don’t always give it “correct product information” (“ingredients”), how does Iceland ensure that it is not selling products which contain known allergens?
Supermarkets are not the only bodies fighting childhood obesity one advert at a time. The GLA has banned junk food ads from its street-side advertising boards, and Tower Hamlets is one of many London Councils that have followed suit. The idea is that children coming out of school won’t see an advert for friend chicken, so they won’t be tempted to head for the chicken shop, etc. Again, children are unlikely to see the adverts as they hurry out of school. They’ll be too busy heading for the chicken shop.
The junk food ad ban aims to help children from being tempted to buy junk food. Why is nothing done about multinational food manufacturers putting the junk food on sale in the first place? It is a strange world which sanctions the supply of food rich in fat, salt and sugar and then channels its energies into stopping children from buying it.
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