Restricting the promotion of unhealthy foods to children is a key measure contained in the National Obesity Strategy released in March. But the strategy has been gathering dust, with neither major party committed to reform.
Scamps said restricting advertising was the “low-hanging fruit” among the recommended policy tools for reducing obesity and compared the measure to the ban on tobacco advertising, which has helped reduce smoking rates.
The federal government has jurisdiction over advertising laws but has allowed the industry to govern itself through a self-regulatory code administered by Ad Standards, part of the Australian Association of National Advertisers (AANA).
Communications Minister Michelle Rowland said while children “require additional protection when it comes to advertising”, there was no plan to ditch the current self-regulatory approach.
Public health advocates say self-regulation is failing, pointing to the junk food companies’ argument that they are not advertising to children by sponsoring their sports because they only use their brand names and not pictures of their products.
The Obesity Policy Coalition has been advocating for a ban on junk food advertising to children on television including during prime time, and action to stop children from being targeted by social media.
The National Obesity Strategy said the average five-to-eight-year-old was being exposed to 827 television junk food advertisements a year and that unhealthy food and drink sponsorships were “undermining the health benefits of sport”.
The strategy set the goal of reducing the proportion of children and adults’ total energy intake from discretionary foods from more than 30 per cent to less than 20 per cent by 2030, but the proposal to restrict the marketing of junk food has not been implemented.
Scamps said the nation’s obesity problem had flown under the radar during the pandemic but that the costs to the health system were growing as more Australians developed related conditions such as type 2 diabetes and some cancers.
She said she expected parents would support the measure, which would help reduce children’s demands for unhealthy foods while out shopping.
“We all know how powerful that pester voice is that the children, when we’re at the checkout, and they’ve seen something on telly, and they really want it… it’s very hard to say no,” she said.
loading
Labor promised during the election campaign consider new restrictions on unhealthy products “on their merits”, highlighting the party’s “proven track record of acting on harmful products”, including cigarette plain packaging and alcohol taxes.
The AANA last year updated its self-regulatory code to ban images of junk food being used in sponsorship advertising targeting children, but there are no restrictions on the use of brand names or logos.
The association is reviewing its Children’s Advertising Code, which currently states that marketing food or beverages to children “must neither encourage nor promote an inactive lifestyle or unhealthy eating or drinking habits”.
Cut through the noise of federal politics with news, views and expert analysis from Jacqueline Maley. Subscribers can sign up to our weekly Inside Politics newsletter here.