Junk marketing defies ban
Food companies are finding more innovative ways to promote junk food to children following restrictions on television advertising, a new report claims.
Consumer group Which? examined the company websites, packaging, advertising and other promotions of 12 leading food companies, including Coca Cola, Cadbury and McDonalds, between January and June this year.
The report, Food Fables: The second sitting, found that companies including Haribo and Mars/Masterfoods had developed more child-centred content on their websites and were linking with sites popular with children such as YouTube, Bebo, MySpace and Facebook.
Companies such as Burger King were still giving away free toys with 'kids' meals' and others, including Haribo and Kellogg's, were using licensed characters on the packaging of unhealthy foods. Kellogg's and Kraft were among firms who continued to advertise unhealthy foods during family TV shows such as 'Dancing on Ice' and 'Coronation Street'. These programmes are not covered by restrictions introduced in January, which ban junk food adverts during programmes aimed at children under 16 (News, 10 January).
KFC and Weetabix both won praise from researchers for cutting back on 'blatant child marketing' in the UK.
Richard Watts of the Children's Food Campaign said, 'Increasingly companies are going behind parents' backs promoting junk food, and it shows the urgent need for stronger protection. The regulations need to be stricter.'
However, a spokesperson from the trade body the Food and Drink Federation said, 'The only food fables are those you will read in this sloppy report, which lacks any real substance, is very subjective and paints a misleading picture of what is actually happening.'
- Further information www.which.co.uk.
