UK: Kids exposed to greater variety of junk food media

By: just-food.com | 14 October 2008

Children in the UK are being exposed to fewer TV commercials promoting high fat, salt and sugar foods but the food industry is increasingly turning to other media outlets to advertise junk food, the latest government research has found.

Print press grew its share of food and drink advertising aimed at kids from 5% in 2003 to 11% in 2007. Likewise, the amount of money spent on advertising on the radio, cinema and the Internet increased by 11%, the Department of Health revealed.

Overall, annual expenditure on "child-themed" food advertising fell by 41% from GBP103m (US$179.8m) in 2003 to GBP61m in 2007, the report revealed.

In 2007, the amount of money spent on child-themed food ads on the TV dropped 46% from 2003 levels, with child-focused advertising for fast-food restaurants down 71%, confectionery down 62%, and cereals down 37%.

However, the advertising of dairy products to children was up 4% in 2007 over 2003 levels, the DoH said.

Public Health Minister Dawn Primarolo said: "I am pleased that there are now fewer ads on TV that are tempting our children into bad eating habits - but we must keep our eye on other types of media."

However, consumer group Which? has called for more drastic action.

"This report provides yet more evidence that the government must work with the food industry to develop a robust code to restrict all types of promotions of less healthy foods to children. To simply promise to 'keep our eye' on things just isn't good enough," Which? food campaigner Clare Corbett said.

"We're not anti-advertising, nor do we think that restricting less healthy food promotions is the single remedy to end childhood obesity and diet-related disease, but it is one area which must to be tackled to make the healthy choice easier for parents."

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