Groundbreaking new Childrens’ Food Campaign / British Hearth Foundation report on how to ban junk food marketing to children.

Parents are unaware their children are being stalked in cyberspace by junk food manufacturers, according to the British Heart Foundation (BHF), which has produced a groundbreaking report on how Britain can lead the world in banning all junk food marketing to children.  Download the report as a 3966kb PDF 

Two thirds of parents are not aware junk food manufacturers are using internet games to target children, according to a recent BHF Food4Thought survey.(1)

The new BHF/Children’s Food Campaign Protecting Children report outlines a revolutionary regulation system that imposes the world’s strictest safeguards on marketing unhealthy food and drink to children.

The proposed regulations cover all forms of marketing, including food and drink packaging and online activity.  The report argues that the current system of voluntary self-regulation of non-broadcast marketing has failed.

The BHF and CFC support a Bill introduced by MP Nigel Griffiths that will implement the report’s conclusions.  It is due to be debated in Parliament in April. 

The Bill is likely to receive the support of British parents, with 82 percent of parents in the Food4Thought survey saying they want further regulation of junk food and drink advertising. 

BHF Director of Policy and Communications Betty McBride said:  “Junk food manufacturers are laying a multi-million pound honey trap for children.  They are luring kids into their online playgrounds or stalking them on food packaging at the breakfast table.

“These regulations are a vital prerequisite to enable any Government strategy on childhood obesity to be effective.  They have the potential to transform the supermarket experience for stressed parents and change the way future generations of children view food.”

The BHF is urging parents to take control of this issue by signing up to its Food4Thought petition to stop junk food marketers targeting their children at bhf.org.uk/donttargetme.   

Children’s Food Campaign Coordinator Richard Watts, who authored the report, said: “The current system of self-regulation is clearly not fit for purpose in the twenty-first century.  It is designed to prevent dishonest claims, not to improve children's health. 

“Properly enforced statutory rules are the only way to protect our children from junk food marketing.”

The report has received backing from members of the Children’s Food Campaign(2) and MP Nigel Griffiths. 

Mr Griffiths said: “By presenting a clear and realistic vision for how curbing the marketing of unhealthy food products to children can be implemented, this report underlines the responsibility we have to act.

“The Food Products (Marketing to Children) Bill, due to be debated in parliament in April, will provide an opportunity for MPs to begin in earnest the fight back against the childhood obesity that has arisen out of our junk food-obsessed culture.”

Further survey results from the BHF Food4Thought survey include:

• more than half of parents are not aware that games and quizzes are used on food or drink labels to attract children (3)
  
• a third of parents are not aware of celebrities or cartoons being used to promote a food or drink product to children (4)

An executive summary of the report and information about the BHF’s Food4Thought campaign is available at http://campaigns.bhf.org.uk/eactivist/user/userC.jsp?15327&EXAMIN=1. 

ENDS

For more information please call the BHF press office on 020 7487 7172 or 07764 290381 (out of office hours) or email newsdesk@bhf.org.uk

Notes to Editors:

1. The British Heart Foundation Food4Thought survey of more than 500 children aged 7-14 and more than 1,000 parents in Great Britain was conducted by BMRB from 8-21 November 2007.  The survey found that only 30 percent of parents are aware that food and drink companies use internet games to attract children.   
   
2. The Children’s Food Campaign has a membership of over 300 organisations.
   
3. The Food4Thought survey found that only 48 percent of parents surveyed in Great Britain are aware that food and drink companies use quizzes and games on food or drink labels to attract children.
   
4. The Food4Thought survey found that 67 percent of parents surveyed in Great Britain are aware of food and drink companies using a celebrity or cartoon to promote a food or drink product. 
   
   - The British Heart Foundation’s Food4Thought campaign aims to fight childhood obesity be getting children to think about the foods they eat and the marketing tricks used to target them.  The campaign was launched at schools throughout the UK last week and includes an virtual world games website, bhf.org.uk/food4thought, an interactive online advertising campaign for kids, and teaching packs in the shape of a giant wallet that will go out to 2,500 schools. 
   
   - The British Heart Foundation (BHF) is the nation’s heart charity, dedicated to saving lives through pioneering research, patient care, campaigning for change and by providing vital information. But we urgently need help. We rely on donations of time and money to continue our life-saving work. Because together we can beat heart disease.