Burning issue: Should junk-food adverts on TV be banned before 9pm?

Published on Wednesday 23 January 2008 21:18

NO Baroness Peta Buscombe, chief executive of the Advertising Association

CALLS from groups who believe an advertising ban will overturn the obesity problem and improve children's diets are simplistic, ill-informed and not based on hard evidence. Advertising is an easy and eye-catching target, but an advertising ban would have unintended consequences which are often overlooked.

Ofcom's comprehensive and evidence-based research concluded that multiple factors – social, environmental and cultural – account for childhood obesity, and that food advertising only has "modest effect" – around 2 per cent – on children's food choices. In light of this Ofcom concluded that a 9pm watershed ban would be disproportionate, with the effect on broadcasters and their investment in home-grown quality programmes outweighing any health benefits.

A ban would also affect the way brands compete with each other and innovate, and this would impact on consumer choice.

Self regulation is far more effective and efficient. The system in the UK is among the toughest in Europe. It is strict, binding, independently administered and funded entirely by the industry at no cost to the taxpayer. Industry believes self regulation is worth that investment.

Calls for bans simply draw attention away from the complex range of inter-related factors, highlighted in the government's Foresight Report, which can be attributed to rising obesity levels. Tackling obesity is about behavioural change and this is why the government, industry and stakeholders working in partnership is the best way to improve the health of the nation.

YES

Richard Watts, campaign co-ordinator for the Children's Food Campaign

THE health time bomb of obesity is exploding. Already one in three UK children is obese or overweight. Unless we act, by 2050 over half of adults and almost half of children will be clinically obese. Given that obesity takes, on average, 13 years from the life of sufferers, this could lead to the first fall in life expectancy for over 300 years.

A key cause of the obesity crisis is our poor diet. The vast majority of UK children consume too much salt, fat and sugar and almost all of them don't get enough fruit and vegetables.

As well as obesity, poor diet is also causing a rise in diabetes, heart disease and other health problems.

It is no coincidence that children eat the foods they see advertised. Marketers spend over 300 million promoting food – almost always unhealthy – on TV before 9pm; and this money is not wasted.

Children and parents both say the constant marketing of junk food is one reason why they consume so much of it. In fact almost three-quarters of parents say that junk food advertising influences their children's food choices. Of course children's diets are the responsibility of their parents. But hard-pressed mums and dads need some help.

Stopping junk food advertising before 9pm is the best way to protect children. Over 70 per cent of children's TV viewing is outside the hours of children's TV (when the government's advertising restrictions apply). The commercial TV programmes that children watch most are Ant & Dec, The X Factor and Coronation Street. Unless we protect children from junk food TV adverts during these programmes we will not tackle the obesity crisis.