Call for new advertising rules in the UK

A leading UK heart charity is today calling for a ban on junk food advertising on television before 9pm, claiming manufacturers are exploiting family shows to bombard children. Adverts for foods high in fat, sugar and salt are banned from the screen during children's programmes. But, in a new report published today, the British Heart Foundation (BHF) says as few as one in 20 shows most watched by children is covered by the ban and that most of children's viewing (68.9 per cent) is outside children's programming and around shows such as The X-Factor, Kids do the Funniest Things and the soap Emmerdale.

The report, prepared by the Food Commission for BHF, also claims advertisers have resorted to pressuring 'bewildered' parents with misleading health claims in the battle for a share of the lucrative breakfast cereal and lunchbox market. Companies use 'sophisticated marketing techniques to manipulate parents into thinking they are buying healthy food for their children', it states. 'It is clear that some food companies are preying on parents' concerns actively to market children's food that is high in sugar, fat and salt,' said BHF chief executive Peter Hollins. 'They are manipulating legislative loopholes to find new tactics to entice children and their parents.

The report highlights several products that, it claims, show how parents are manipulated. These include:

• Kellogg's Coco Pops Cereal and Milk Bars says it is 'the best choice for a lunchbox treat', with images of grapes and wholemeal bread. 'In reality it contains a massive 41g of sugar per 100g and uses adult guideline daily amounts, which could further mislead parents,' says BHF.

• Dairylea says it has 'no artificial colour, flavours or preservatives added'. 'But just one Dairylea Bite contains nearly a third of a child's daily recommended maximum saturated fat intake.'

• A Nestlé and Nesquik magazine ad showing children eating Cheerios and sucking milk through a Nesquik flavoured Magic Straw claims to be 'full of goodness' helping to 'maintain strong healthy bones'. Yet with the mix of Cheerios and strawberry-flavoured milk a child 'would consume 37.4g of sugar,' says the report.

• Burger King Aberdeen Angus Mini-Burgers with Cheese is advertised with a 'warrior' mother saying: 'The lunch battle is over.' Yet there is more than a fifth of a child's daily recommended maximum saturated fat intake in the product.

• KFC Deluxe Boneless Box TV advert shows children who, after a family meal of KFC, volunteer to do the washing-up. This, says the report, uses the 'emotional insight' technique by sympathising with difficulty in getting offspring to do chores. Yet it says there is more than half of a child's daily recommended maximum salt intake in a serving of Popcorn chicken.

Manufacturers denied the findings. A spokesman for Kraft who produce Dairylea cheese said: "Parents tell us that no artificial ingredients are important to them, so that's what we highlight."

"Call to ban junk food ads during 'family' TV", The Observer, 14.12.2008.