Should we do more to stop junk food marketing to children?

If even intelligent and forewarned adults can fall prey to marketing often or from time to time, we can’t expect children not to be victims all or most of the time. On that principle alone, marketing junk food (and other products) to children should be banned.

Maybe we don’t control the ads then, but if eg on telly, advertise for Weight Watchers before and Corsodyl after?

I must say that I am worried about kids who are fed too much junk food (or given too much pocket money with which to buy it), out of misguided love or otherwise. Isn’t it a recognised fact that kids fed too much junk food will suffer ill health right away or in later life, or both? The more they are given the more they want (just like the rest of us, no doubt), and the ads only add fuel to the fire. What then do we do to protect the kids? There are probably several answers (education e tutti quanti) and maybe banning junk food ads isn’t one of them, but it would be a shame to do nothing.

As a senior citizen brought up on good wholesome fayre ( with a bit of bread and dripping on the side) it was only in my 30’s that my love of a pint really started to pile on the pounds so in effect that was self inflicted. Since then the “American” fast food culture has ballooned, as have ready meals, thereby making it easy to eat fatty foods and whilst parental guidance is needed to try to keep children off the junk food I think we’re missing the point. My reasoning is that when,thanks to easy credit, the mother went out to work, little time was left to prepare proper healthy food for the family, it was all too easy to do everything with chips. This added to the irresponsible advertising had led to the junk food culture. Just imagine what would happen if all the bad things for children were hidden from view,like tobacco products, one wonders how quickly they would forget them!

The Milky Way advert that Charlotte mentions in her introduction has been updated to remove the claim that Milky Way does not ruin your appetite. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8LARnyyJKI
Presumably it’s OK to finish the multi-pack before lunch then.

I’m convinced that part of the problem is that the manufacturers and retailers have encouraged us to buy larger quantities. For example, 2 litre bottles of Cola instead of a small bottle or can, and larger bars or multipacks, all marketed with the message that it will save us money.

An increasing number of children will have parents or relatives that are suffering from complications of obesity, but I am not aware that this affects what they eat themselves.

I understand the problem but I don’t see any easy solution in a country where it has become so easy to buy sweets and junk food.

One thing that people tend to forget is that over the last one hundred years the advertising industry has been refining its messaging technique and also assumed a “right” to be involved in society.

Is advertising by audio/visual means too clever at manipulating the low level desires of people to be a healthy aspect of society? Is it just possible that adverts in print require a thinking brain and that by abdicating to commercial TV paid for by constant adverts we have entered into a downward spiral where people are manipulated by the actual adverts and also the implied “normal” lifestyle of TV land.

Not to mention the political soundbite and the staged “events”. Would Boris be where he is if people just read his prose?

I am not expecting Which? to actually do anything about it- particularly given its heavy expenditure on commercial TV. At least though what is on offer is not fattening.

As to food perhaps by far the best thing IS to ban food and drink adverts from the airways. Over-eating /obesity and diabetes are all on the increase AND in a free National Health Service perhaps we are entitled to root out any adverts that encourages excessive intake of processed products from our screens and monitors.

Just consider how impoverished really would be your life without anything but printed adverts for processed foods and drinks?