Transcript Food Promotion to Children and Young People

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?