In television ban on junk food ads, I posted about UK's Food Standards Agency, FSA, recommendation for a ban on television advertising of junk foods in an effort to curb the continuing weight gain of children. The Telegraph UK is reporting that the FSA will be taking the ban one step further by suggesting that the ban extend to all forms of media, including websites, computer games, cinemas, packaging and school sponsorship. This is a brainstorming effort of potential actions that might be taken in the campaign against childhood obesity. Other suggestions being batted about is a store loyalty card that rewards consumers for choosing healthy foods over junk food containing high levels of salt, fat and sugar.
According to the Telegraph UK, there was a White Paper published two years ago in which the government promised to take action against food advertisers who target children by early next year. In what has been called a draconian regime, the FSA has devised a system of nutrient profiling to identify offending food products. The obesity issue is real. Is this the answer?
1. Hmmm. That's a tough one.
On one hand, I realize that bombardment of fast food commercials at young people (or any people) definitely makes us want to eat that crap.
On the other hand, I hate heavy-handed government intervention like this. The bad thing is that the government won't know where to quit, they'll be stopping ads of food that contain too much fat (avocado, olive oil, etc.) and who knows what else.
I guess I'm convincing myself that the government should stay out of this fight. But citizens should figure out a way to make these ads either stop running or simply become irrelevant.
Posted at 1:23PM on Jun 20th 2006 by Daryl Kulak