| The idea of stopping junk food advertisements gained
force last week with the publication of a report by the Commons select
committee on health, which said that British kids could face an obesity
crisis if some controls were not put in place and went so far as to
warn that UK's health service could be "overwhelmed". The
report warned that children could die earlier than their parents because
of the health problems obesity causes. Over 22 per cent of people
in Britain are obese and the problem has slowly tripled among children
in the past 20 years.
The argument that the British industry groups under the British
government's scanner are putting forth follows established lines
of other "suspect" industries when confronted with issues
of public health. The proposed ban would have no positive impact
on obesity levels among children but would only damage the quality
of television programmes made for children, the industry groups
aver. Their logic: Advertisements bring in the revenues needed to
produce quality children's programming.
The Commons report is just the latest of a number of studies that
have come out over the last few months where questions have been raised
on the ill-effects of junk food advertisement. In February, a task
force of the American Psychological Association (APA) had recommended
that advertisements targeting children under the age of eight be restricted.
In a compilation of studies done on children's media habits spanning
nearly four years, the APA has deduced that children under eight are
unable to critically comprehend televised advertising messages and
are prone to accept advertiser messages as truthful, accurate and
unbiased, leading to unhealthy eating habits.
Another study released by the California based Kaiser Family Foundation
around the same time had deduced that children who spend the most
time with media were more likely to be overweight.
Coming back to the Commons' report, it quotes research which shows
that some 1,150 advertisements for junk food are shown daily during
children's programs.
The report also criticised the food and drink industry for producing
high-calorie foods and blamed the UK government also for not doing
enough to reduce obesity levels.
It was in response to the criticism directed at the government that
health secretary John Reid came to the decision to ban companies
from targeting children with advertisements for a range of high
calorie products from burgers and fries to candy and soft drinks.
A report on public health, which will contain the proposal for
a ban, is scheduled to be published in the fall.
Also read:
Heed, need, feed - kids
gorge on food ads, say studies: Special Report
Junk
food ads will be banned from TV
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