17 November 2006

Food Advertising Unit

[Home] [News & media] [News releases] [17 November 2006]

The FAU responds to new restrictions on food and soft drink advertising to children

The FAU today gave a mixed response to Ofcom’s decision on new restrictions on food and soft drink advertising to children.

The industry accepts that further advertising restrictions on food and soft drink around children’s programming and targeted directly at primary school children are important and itself proposes a tough but proportionate ‘option 4’. However, it has long argued that Ofcom should base its final decision on the evidence, which shows that advertising only has a modest effect on children’s food preferences.

Responding to the volume and scheduling restrictions for HFSS products, which Ofcom now intends to extend to all children up to 16, as opposed to younger children aged under 9,

Sue Eustace, Director of Public Affairs, said:

“Ofcom has moved the goal-posts from its original regulatory objective in March, which was based on extensive research it had carried out, by extending volume and scheduling restrictions to programmes of direct appeal to under 16s, thus intruding into adult airtime. We fear there could be a knock-on effect on levels of investment in high-quality UK-produced programming”.

However the FAU today welcomed Ofcom’s acceptance of the industry’s tough content proposals, which would prohibit the use of licensed characters, celebrities, promotional offers and nutritional claims. It also welcomed Ofcom’s agreement that their continued focus should be on targeting primary school children.

The FAU also welcomed Ofcom’s continued rejection of the pre-9pm watershed ban demanded by campaign groups as being disproportionate in the balance between economic impact and social benefit.

Suzanne Edmond, Public Affairs Manager, said:

“The industry is disappointed that Ofcom, as an independent and evidence-based regulator, appears to have been compromised by an orchestrated campaign from consumerist organisations which has created significant media and political pressures.”

“This debate has been conditioned by emotive language used by campaign groups about ‘junk foods’ and misses the real issues which are about bad diets and inactive lifestyles.”

- ends -

Notes to editors

The Food Advertising Unit (FAU), which operates under the auspices of the UK Advertising Association, is a centre for information, communication and research in the area of food advertising, particularly television advertising, to children. The FAU’s membership represents multinational food companies, advertising agencies and the media.
The new statutory broadcast Code on content will be legally binding on the industry and provide probably the strictest rules on advertising food and soft drink to children in the world. The industry has committed to transposing these, as proposed, into the non-broadcast self-regulatory Code, which would be binding on the industry.
Ofcom’s regulatory objectives stated that it aimed to balance the following:

to avoid disproportionate impacts on the revenue of broadcasters;
to avoid intrusive regulation of advertising during adult airtime; and
to focus on younger children under 10.

In answer to a Parliamentary Question tabled by Stephen O’Brien MP, Shadow Minister for Health, in May 2006, Caroline Flint MP stated that her concerns were “focused on protecting primary school aged children.”

For further information

Please contact Suzanne Edmond or Sue Eustace on 020 7340 1100 or 07736 729422 (out of office hours).

Ofcom Statement and Further Consultation

Media brief 16 November 2006

AA News release on its ‘disappointment’ at Ofcom’s retreat from an evidence-based approach

website design