Plea to Government on junk food marketing: “don’t let industry set the agenda again”

The Children’s Food Campaign is sending a letter and a briefing to the Prime Minister and to the Department of Health, calling on them to ensure they have taken onboard the lessons from the Government’s last big attempt to tackle obesity: the  Responsibility Deal.

This action comes in the wake of reports that the much delayed Childhood Obesity Strategy appears to have been watered down. There are fears that there will be no firm commitments to bring in new rules on TV advertising during the programmes most watched by children, or on the removal of confectionery at checkouts, or on the extension of existing marketing rules to cover brand characters, packaging and sponsorship, despite Public Health England recommendations that such measures are included. Neither does there appear to be any mechanism to force companies to act; just a reliance on voluntary adoption.

The "Who sets the agenda?” briefing analyses internal Responsibility Deal briefing papers and minutes to examine the key lessons that should be learnt by civil servants and ministers. It identifies the weaknesses of the past purely voluntary approach, and those areas where a new, mandatory, approach is needed most. The briefing concludes with five key lessons:

1. Don’t delay implementing measures on marketing and promotions
2. Don’t let industry set the terms of its own commitments
3. Introduce mandatory measures, and also penalties for inaction
4. Don’t rely on voluntary self-regulation
5. Don’t offer any further ‘last chances’ for industry to self-regulate

Download the "Who sets the agenda?” briefing

Malcolm Clark, co-ordinator of Children’s Food Campaign, said:

“Letting the food and advertising industries set the terms of their commitments on tackling the marketing of junk food to children is no way to prioritise public health; nor is refusing to enact penalties for companies who don’t fully implement their commitments, or who don’t sign up at all.”

“We are alarmed by reports that the Government appears to have given in to industry’s economically short-sighted demands for purely voluntary measures and a lack of firm commitments on restrictions on marketing to children and promotion of less healthy food and drink. The Responsibility Deal is proof that such an approach does not work and will do little to ease the burden of diet-related ill-health on people’s lives and on the NHS budget.”

“What is needed is a level playing field so all companies have to do the right thing, including an end to marketing junk food at children. Public Health England set out a clear road map of recommendations for achieving that. We call on the Government to rethink their Childhood Obesity Strategy and ensure that – as a minimum –  these policies are included when the document is officially published.”
 

Key lessons from the Responsiblity Deal's failed attempts to tackle food marketing and promotion
(taken from the "Who sets the agenda?” briefing):

Lesson 1: Don’t delay implementing measures on marketing and promotions
A firm timetable needs to be set out from the start, with a series of actions scheduled for immediate and imminent implementation.  In addition, leadership and resources matter. The Government needs to commit to overseeing changes to food marketing over the long-haul, and not just in the period immediately after the announcement of the obesity strategy.

Lesson 2: Don’t let industry set the terms of its own commitments
“The Responsibility Deal approach is fundamentally flawed in its expectation that industry will take voluntary actions that prioritise public health interests above its own.” Industry has a vested interest in keeping potentially more challenging issues from being tackled; instead wanting the emphasis to be on taking positive actions and supporting good practice. It isn’t appropriate for retailers and manufacturers to be setting the terms of what they would agree to. Matters which affect public health should be led by Government, in association with the medical profession and civil society; with industry coming to the table only once the top-line priorities, rules and actions have been set.

Lesson 3: Introduce mandatory measures, and also penalties for inaction
Food marketing and promotion is particularly ill-suited to a voluntary approach. There needs to be proper and fully independent mechanisms to hold companies to account, or to force them to act in the first place. Without them industry will make little progress on its own.

Lesson 4: Don’t rely on voluntary self-regulation
The Department for Health's faith that “current co- and self-regulatory arrangements offer the best protection to consumers, especially children” seems extremely misplaced. It should be Government – through, for instance, its Childhood Obesity Strategy – which sets the ambitious policy goals for the Committee of Advertising Practice to then align their rules to meet. These should always seek to match international best practice, and adhere to World Health Organisation recommendations.

Lesson 5: Don’t offer any further ‘last chances’ for industry to self-regulate
Unlike at the start of the Responsibility Deal process – the food and drink industry is in no position to argue that the voluntary approach can work for food promotion, or that they should be given more time to adopt such measures voluntarily. The Government must recognise that the situation has moved on significantly since 2011 and change its approach and policies accordingly.