Children's Food Campaigners Accuse Industry of SNACKING ON SPIN

Children's food campaigners have responded angrily to a briefing distributed to policy makers by SNACMA (the Snack, Crisp and Nut Manufacturers' Association) branding it as "a highly misleading" picture of how snacks are marketed to children, presumably in a desperate effort to ward off regulation of unhealthy food to children.

The Government is known to be considering further restrictions on the advertising of junk food to food to children in the light of the groundbreaking Foresight report on obesity.  The report concludes that unless the UK takes steps to reform the "obesity causing environment" (including junk food marketing) over half of the UK's population will be obese by 2050.

The Children's Food Campaign have written to SNACMA saying that it is disturbed and angry to read the assertion in its briefing paper that "the UK snacks sector does not advertise to children under 16". The letter goes on to say: "A short internet search came up with these examples of UK snack manufacturers affiliated to SNACMA promoting their products to children:

• Red Mill Foods ran a July 2007 tie-in with the Transformers film, with 'Transform-A-Snack'. Transformers characters were placed on packets. The snacks are, according to the website (http://www.snacks.co.uk/), 'especially popular with 8-13 year olds'. According to this website: "Transform-A-Snack will also be running an on-pack promotion, offering snack lovers the chance to win Optimus Prime Voice changers and other Hasbro Transformer toys.   Red Mill's marketing and sales controller Sarah Nunn said: "Transform-A-Snack bags contain a mixture of shapes, which can be added together to be transformed into a moon buggy".
  
• www.pringles.com/pages/index.shtml - includes a tie-in to the children's cartoon character Spiderman, as well as downloads of wallpaper with Super Mario characters for Wiis.
  
• http://www.walkers-crisps.co.uk/  - includes a mudsliding game where players can star Gary Lineker through a mud slide containing farm objects.
  
• Red Mill also has a 'kids' range', www.snacks.co.uk/kids_01.html, targeted at children through price ('pocket money priced 10p snack line'), names such as Oinks, Petrified Prawns), and child friendly packaging.
  
• Jaffa Cakes are available in 'pod packaging' and are described as 'ideal for lunchboxes'."

The letter continues: "We are sure more detailed research will produce many more examples.  In the context of these examples of SNACMA members promoting their products to children, we would be interested in hearing how you justify the statement that 'The UK snacks sector does not advertise to children under 16'."

Richard Watts, Coordinator of the Children's Food Campaign said: "This is the latest example of the food industry's claims of good behaviour being exposed as just spin.  Despite their desperate claims, the snack industry is heavily promoting junk food to children.  Now is the time the Government should protect children from all junk food marketing, including stopping TV adverts for unhealthy food before 9pm."

Alex Callaghan, Policy Officer at the British Heart Foundation (BHF) says: "It is predicted that by 2010 around one fifth of children in the UK will be overweight or obese.  Obesity is a serious risk factor for heart disease and type II diabetes, and urgent action must be taken if we are to reverse the lasting damage that poor diets are doing to our nation's health."

She continued:  "The Snack Nut and Crisp Manufacturers Association's insistence that the snack sector doesn't advertise to children is precisely the kind of spurious claim which convinces the BHF that, when it comes to protecting kids from junk food marketing, self regulation is not working."

Ends

For further information please contact Richard Watts from the Children's Food Campaign on 07710 782719.

Notes to editors:

1. The Children's Food Campaign wants to improve children's health and well-being through better food - and food teaching - in schools, and protecting children from junk food marketing.  We are supported by over 300 organisations and 12,000 members of the public.  We were behind the ground-breaking Children's Food Bill introduced into Parliament last year. The Children's Food Campaign is coordinated by Sustain: the alliance for better food and farming.
2. 9pm watershed restriction on high fat, sugar and salt foods would reduce children's exposure to this type of advertising by 82%. Such a measure is supported by a broad coalition of health, children's and consumer groups as well as by Ofcom's own advisory committee for England, the Office of the Children's Commissioner, and the Food Standards Agency.  A British Heart Foundation / TNS poll last year found that 69% of parents supported a 9pm watershed.
3. Research by Which? has shown just how ineffective the new rules on TV junk food advertising are.  The new rules will not affect advertising during the 26 commercial TV programmes most watched by children or in any of the time periods when most children are watching.
4. Rt Hon Gordon Brown MP said on 25 October 2006 on GMTV, when talking about the childhood obesity crisis: "we have got to do something about television advertising before the watershed hour".