Children's Food Campaign condemns ASA ruling which lets Nutella off the hook

Responding to the Advertising Standards Authority’s ruling that an advertisement for Nutella was not misleading or likely to encourage poor nutritional habits amongst children, Children’s Food Campaign Coordinator Christine Haigh said:

“This ad clearly targeted children and encouraged them to eat this 86%-fat-and-sugar spread for breakfast. With the UK facing record levels of childhood obesity, we need a regulator with teeth, not one that is funded by and defends the industry it is meant to regulate.”

The ad attracted 31 complaints, including one from the Children’s Food Campaign.

The ruling coincides with the publication of a report from the National Heart Forum which shows the many ways in which children are targeted by junk food marketing and demonstrates the inadequacy of voluntary commitments by food companies to tackle the problem.

 

ENDS

For further information and interviews, please contact Christine Haigh on 0203 5596 777 or 07870 577934 or christine@sustainweb.org.

 

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 150 national organisations. The Children's Food Campaign is coordinated by Sustain: the alliance for better food and farming and funded by the British Heart Foundation. For more information, see http://www.childrensfood.org.uk.

2) Details of the ASA’s adjudication are available at http://www.asa.org.uk/ASA-action/Adjudications/2011/6/Ferrero-UK-Ltd/TF_ADJ_50891.aspx.

3) The National Heart Forum’s report, ‘An analysis of the regulatory and voluntary landscape concerning the marketing and promotion of food and drink to children’, is available to download from http://www.heartforum.org.uk/resources/resources-directory/?entryid17=8494.