THE CASE AGAINST FOOD ADVERTISING BANS
B&T invited Mark Champion to argue (reason may be a better word) against food bans on TV…read the current issue for the opposing view point.
The reason people become obese is very simple – they consume much more energy than they expend.
It’s actually not a lot more complex to solve the problem – eat less and move around more.
So what has changed since the 1950s when research tells us that everyone was eating more than we are now? Fifty years ago however, we ate more to sustain a more active lifestyle, without the hours of screen time and sedentary leisure of modern day life.
The banning of food advertising to children on television is intended - according to the ‘health’ lobby - to control part of the “energy in” equation. Banning commercial messages to your children on just one medium is supposed to result in a curbing of their desire for those products – that’s the theory at least.
Let’s look at this view more closely. Firstly, science suggests its not the commercial messages themselves that are causing the “damage” – it’s more likely to be the sitting around that’s doing the damage, not the messages.
Secondly, there is a view among ‘health’ lobbyists that television is such a powerful influence on children’s lives that such a ban can be justified – even if the link can’t be proven.
The recent ACMA report on television standards stung the ‘health’ lobby by finally saying it – ‘It’ being that there is no evidence that banning ads will reduce childhood obesity.
The ACMA position is supported by international research. Sweden and Quebec have had such bans for years and the result? Children have got fatter - presumably because things that are prohibited are usually more attractive to children.
Recent research has also discovered that the impact television advertising contributes to the problem of childhood obesity is somewhere between 1-2% - less than the margin of error.
So why this dogged determination to portray television advertising of food as the bogeyman? It’s clearly more about politics and symbolism than anything to do with health outcomes.
So our politicians must resist the temptation to be seen to be doing ‘something’ by the banning of food advertising on TV – just to ameliorate the lobbyists. Obesity solutions requires a much more sophisticated response.
Industry would rather work with governments to find real solutions to a real problem. Industry will always be an important part of any solution, contributing product reformulation, development and marketing of healthier choices and support for education programmes to better equip consumers. And industry is already playing a vital and constructive role in this respect.
There is no place for bans on television advertising of foods – they can’t be justified and they don’t work.
Mark Champion, Executive Director, AFA
7 October 2008