Category: Regulation
Government U-turn Health campaigners have called the stalling of measures in the UK to tackle childhood obesity as a government U-turn. The restrictions banning paid-for advertisements for unhealthy food online and unhealthy food advertisements on TV before 9pm were recently passed under the Health and Care Act 2022. However the government is delaying the implementation […]
We’ve been out and about looking at what is advertised on Sydney buses this Summer. Unsurprisingly, it’s no different from our previous research from last Summer or the Summer before. The majority of food ads on our buses were for unhealthy products, similar to our findings back in 2018. In our sample of buses across […]
People living with obesity who contract COVID-19 are at increased risk of serious illness. This has contributed to calls to address the unhealthy food environment. Causes of obesity are complex, but much can be linked to the proliferation of unhealthy food and drink and their promotion, availability, and pricing. The National Obesity Strategy The National […]
Parental concerns over McDonald’s marketing Big Macs to kids who sign up for basketball have been rejected. Parents’ Voice lodged a complaint to Ad Standards when a 13 year old received an email after signing up to play basketball. The email promoted the McDonald’s app and offered a free Big Mac. Ad standards considered the […]
Advertisers are bombarding our kids with unhealthy food ads and the only protection for them is flimsy Codes written by the food and advertising industry themselves. Children’s exposure to high levels of unhealthy food marketing affects the food and drinks that they like, ask for, buy, and consume. Except for ‘C’ and ‘P’ rated TV […]
Early results suggest Chilean food marketing policy is reducing children’s exposure to junk food ads. In 2016, Chile introduced a policy to restrict child-directed marketing of unhealthy foods and beverages. A study has looked at 12-14 year old’s exposure to ads that were high in energy, total sugars, sodium, or saturated fat and their consumption of unhealthy foods before and after the policy implementation. It found that the policy has reduced […]
Children should be protected from unhealthy food marketing so they can develop healthy eating habits that sets them up for life. The Brands off our kids! report highlights four actions to protect all Australian children from the processed food industry’s unhealthy food marketing. A growing number of organisations and individuals have signed up in support of the report, led by Obesity Policy Coalition, demanding Federal and State Governments take responsibility for protecting […]
The City of Mandurah, in Western Australia, has shown what local councils can do to protect children from junk food advertising. They have introduced a policy that prohibits images of unhealthy food or images that promote alcohol or the consumption of alcohol products on bench seats and illuminated signs. Their policy also states that advertising on banner poles, bus shelters […]
New Cancer Council research shows that Australian government-designed criteria works well for identifying unhealthy food that shouldn’t be marketed to children. Now it must be used for government regulation to protect children from junk food marketing. In 2018, the Council of Australian Government Health Council set criteria to determine unhealthy food when assessing food advertising. Our study found these criteria performed […]
Junk food advertising is like wallpaper in our lives and our children’s lives too. Dr Jenny Norman and Associate Professor Bridget Kelly tell us about their studies to show the effect junk food advertising has on our children. Their study looked at how much food primary school children ate after watching TV (that contained advertisements) […]