Junk food ad crackdown ‘flawed’ – BBC Health News

The BBC reports that the plans to ban the advertising of junk food on television before the 9pm watershed is flawed.

“A crackdown on junk food advertising to children will not be effective as the programmes most watched by children will not be covered, campaigners say.

Ads for unhealthy food are to be banned from the end of March (2007) during TV shows targeted at under-16s, Ofcom has said.”

It seems that the the only channels to be fully affected are the specialist childrens channels on digital television. Many children under the age of 16 watch television show aimed at an older audience with their families, such as chat shows such as Parkinson, and also the evening news on the ITV network. It is estimated that more children watch these channels than those that watch the channels that will have the advertising bans.

It seems that commercial interests have managed to win the day once again in the battle against obesity.

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Recommended Reading • Campaigners slam OFCOM secrecy and spin – 04/08/2006 – SUSTAIN: THE ALLIANCE FOR BETTER FOOD AND FARMING • Proposed changes to television advertising of food and drink products to children • Watching too much TV can be bad for children • The Puppy Fat Myth and Child Obesity • Is The Obesity Crisis Now Under Control?

Tags: advertising, obesity

This entry was posted on Thursday, December 21st, 2006 at 6:17 pm and is filed under Diet. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.