Brands off our kids!
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 children from unhealthy food marketing.
The four actions are:
- Ensure TV, radio and cinemas are free from unhealthy food marketing from 6am to 9.30pm. Cancer Council NSW research in 2015 found 3.1 ads for unhealthy food every hour on Sydney commercial television.
- Prevent processed food companies from targeting children. The 2019 Cancer Council NSW Community Survey on Cancer Prevention found 65% of our community supports a ban on unhealthy food advertising that targets children.
- Ensure public spaces and events are free from unhealthy food marketing. Cancer Council NSW research found 72% of food and drink advertisements on school buses were promoting unhealthy products.
- Protect children from digital marketing of unhealthy food. Our 2019 NSW Community Survey on Cancer Prevention found 68% of parents were concerned about unhealthy food marketing on the internet and social media.
Cancer Council supports the Brands off our kids! report and these priority actions, and has called for comprehensive government regulation of junk food marketing to children in submissions to the National Preventive Health Strategy and the National Obesity Strategy.
