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Children TV Food Ad Restrictions Not
Working, UK Consumer Body Claims
Carolyn E.
Pepper and Tina Sany-Davies
KidAdLaw
November 4, 2008
OFCOM, the UK media regulator, published rules regarding
advertising food and drink products to children.
A consumer watchdog in the UK, Which?, has said that the
rules, which aim to curb advertising foods assessed as
high in fat, salt and sugar ("HFSS") to children, are
not working.
Which? conducted a two-week analysis and found adverts
for products such as Coca-Cola, which reportedly
contains 13 teaspoons of sugar per 500 ml, and Kellogg's
Coco Pops, which is more than one-third sugar, were
broadcast during programmes popular with children and
were not caught by recent restrictions.
The OFCOM rules state that adverts for HFSS foods are
not allowed to be shown in or around programmes of
particular appeal to under-16s. If the proportion of
those under 16 watching a programme is 20 percent higher
than the general viewing population, then the programme
is considered to be of particular appeal to under-16s.
Which? revealed through its report that none of the
programmes with the five highest child audiences is
covered by the restrictions imposed by OFCOM in January.
Therefore, while shows such as "The Simpsons" and
"SpongeBob Square Pants" are caught by the rules, other
shows such as "Beat The Star" and "Animals Do The
Funniest Things" are not, despite being watched by
thousands more children.
According to the two-week analysis conducted by Which?,
"Animals Do The Funniest Things," a home video show
where viewers send in amusing clips of their animals,
was viewed by 370,600 children under 16, and included
adverts for Cadbury's Creme Egg Twisted, Maryland
Chocolate Chip Cookies, Nachos and Kraft's Dairylea
Dunkers.
By contrast, "Shaggy and Scooby Doo get a clue" and
"SpongeBob Square Pants", which are both caught by
OFCOM's restrictions, did not have adverts for HFSS
foods.
Which? food campaigner Clare Corbett said, "The ad
restrictions may look good on paper but the reality is
that the programmes most popular with children are
slipping through the net. If these rules are going to be
effective, then they have to apply to the programmes
that children watch in the greatest numbers."
Chief executive of the Advertising Association, Baroness
Peta Buscombe, called the Which? report "sensationalist,
unconstructive and missing the point." She added, "Their
list includes programmes clearly not aimed at children
and films screened after 10 p.m. There clearly has to be
an element of parental responsibility on which
programmes they allow their children to view."
A Department for Culture, Media and Sport spokesman
said, "Although children still see some of these
advertisements, the current OFCOM regulations mean that
the viewing of these adverts by children is reduced by
an estimated 50%, an impressive amount. We appreciate
that there are calls for further restrictions on UK TV
advertising but these should be considered once we have
had a chance to assess the impact of current measures."
OFCOM is set to report on the success of its
restrictions in December this year..
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