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Food promotion to children and young people Dr Sinéad Furey Providing Inspection Services for Department of Education Department for Employment and Learning Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure Food advertising to children and young people • Childhood obesity: tripled over the past 25 years • Northern Ireland: one in three boys / one in four girls are overweight or obese • The food we choose to eat as children can determine future food choice behaviour • There is too much fat, sugar and salt in children’s diets and not enough fruit and vegetables • Irresponsible food promotion is considered to be a significant contributor to children's food choice Food advertising to children and young people • Children’s food choices vary according to the advertising they are exposed to • 2004: £285 million spent on television advertising of the ‘big five’ product categories • For every pound spent promoting healthy eating, £500 is spent marketing unhealthy food • Children are responsive to these advertisements Consumer influence by the media Use of celebrities Adverts on social networks Jingles Internet banner advertising Character licensing Pop-ups Sponsorship Computer games Product placements What food and drink products are most commonly advertised on television? (HINT: There are five categories!) The television diet Key facts from NI research in 2004/5 are: • Children’s television = 10.5 food advertisements an hour • 62% more food ads an hour during children’s television than during family viewing hours • Food ads may be repeated two or three times during a single advertisement break targeted at children • This repetition does not occur during family viewing hours Would you be surprised to know that: • A child watches 13 hours 35 minutes of commercial television per week: 217 advertising spots; • A six year old will have already watched the equivalent of more than one year of non-stop television; • Four year olds can link an ad to the associated product; • Young children can identify products with certain characters; • One in four children says a brand name as their first recognisable word; • The average ten year old has learned and absorbed between 300 and 400 brands. The Food Policy Arena: OFCOM • 2003: OFCOM considered proposals • 2004: Advertising had a modest, direct effect on children’s food choices and a larger but unquantifiable indirect effect on children’s food preferences, consumption and behaviour. • Conclusion: A case for proportionate and targeted action in terms of rules for broadcast advertising to address the issue of childhood health and obesity. The way forward • OFCOM began phasing in restrictions on the advertising of food and drink products that are high in fat or salt or sugar on 1 April 2007 • Such adverts were banned from children’s programming on most channels • Such adverts were progressively reduced on children’s channels • BUT … TV Programme Sponsorship • Programme sponsorship: Worth over £190m in 2007 - a growth of 8.5% from 2006 • Examples of programme sponsorship include … Recent sponsorships Home and Away The Simpsons This Morning Friends OFCOM’s Interim Review: 17.12.08 • Food advertising to 4 to 15 year olds has dropped by a third (34%) • BUT …food ads have shifted from children’s airtime to adult airtime. • January 2009: All ads for foods high in fat or salt or sugar removed from all children’s channels: OFCOM estimates food ads will reduce by 41% OFCOM’s INTERIM REVIEW • Children saw significantly fewer food ads using techniques considered to appeal specifically to children in ’07/’08 than ’05 • Less advertising featuring licensed characters such as cartoon and film characters (-69%) • Fewer adverts with free gifts (-36%) and health claims (-18%) • BUT … more with celebrities (22%) • OFCOM will conduct a further review in early-2010 Thank you! Any questions?