The BBC reports that the World Health Organization (WHO) later this month will ask the health ministers of European Union countries to sign onto an anti-obesity charter that will specifically call for limits on food advertising to children.
The charter will call for a total ban on “unhealthy food” advertising before 9 pm, as well as a broader “reduction in marketing pressure, particularly to children,” saying that “special attention needs to be focussed on vulnerable groups such as children and adolescents, whose credulity should not be exploited by commercial activities.”
The BBC notes that “countries around Europe have differing policies on marketing to children.
“There are statutory bans on advertising in Norway and Sweden, guidelines in Finland and Ireland and self-regulation by the advertising and media industries in the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain.
“France has said all TV ads for processed foods, or products with added fat, sweeteners or salt must carry a health warning - or the advertiser must help fund health campaigns.”
The charter will call for a total ban on “unhealthy food” advertising before 9 pm, as well as a broader “reduction in marketing pressure, particularly to children,” saying that “special attention needs to be focussed on vulnerable groups such as children and adolescents, whose credulity should not be exploited by commercial activities.”
The BBC notes that “countries around Europe have differing policies on marketing to children.
“There are statutory bans on advertising in Norway and Sweden, guidelines in Finland and Ireland and self-regulation by the advertising and media industries in the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain.
“France has said all TV ads for processed foods, or products with added fat, sweeteners or salt must carry a health warning - or the advertiser must help fund health campaigns.”
- KC's View:
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We actually agree with this one…though we would prefer if television networks and advertisers would come to it on their own without being required to by government mandate.
We’re old enough to remember something called the “Family Hour” on US television, which created some basic and voluntary rules about what could be shown before 9 am. Somehow, those self-inflicted restrictions have vanished, and it is sometimes appalling what appears on TV at 8 pm.
