September 5, 2006
Contact: Josh Golin (617-896-9369;
josh<at>commercialfreechildhood.org)
For
immediate release
Statement of CCFC’s Dr. Susan Linn on the
International Obesity TaskForces’ Call to Ban Junk Food
Marketing to Children
“The
Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood lauds the
International Obesity TaskForce for
their call to ban junk food marketing aimed at children.
The IOTF’s Sydney Principles* provide an excellent
framework for protecting children from harmful marketing.
This is the most promising development yet in the struggle to
stop childhood obesity and other marketing-related ills. Now
that an august body like the IOTF has declared self-regulation
a failure, it is our hope that governments around the world
will take action to stop the commercial exploitation of
children.”
*The
International Obesity TaskForces’ Sydney Principles are draft
recommendations proposing a range of actions that governments,
the private sector and international bodies like the World
Health Organization should take. These include proposals that
government should:
•
Provide substantial protection to children against commercial
exploitation
•
Implement statutory measures rather than rely on self
regulation
• Take a
wide definition of promotion to include all marketing
techniques, including the
internet
• Commit
to commercial-free schools and other settings
•
Include cross border media to regulate satellite, internet and
terrestrial broadcasting
•
Monitor and enforce compliance with a new international code
*(For
more information, see http://www.iotf.org/documents/iotfmarketingsep5.pdf.)
