Despite Promises, Kids Still Bombarded With Junk Food Ads
The food industry has promised to voluntarily stop advertising unhealthy junk food to children. And according to industry-sponsored reports they do live up to these promises.
A new independent scientific review show something completely different: Children are still the targets of lots of advertising. Independent surveys in Europe, Asia, Australia and North America showed little change in the last five years, despite industry’s assurances that things would improve. Here’s comments from the senior author of the study:
Self-regulation simply does not work in a highly competitive marketplace. Asking the companies to restrict their own marketing is like asking a burglar to fix the locks on your front door. They will say you are protected, but you are not.
So what could work? The three things that Big Junk Food fear the most:
- Smarter, better-informed citizens
- Government intervention
- Lawsuits
Let’s face it: The industry will continue to fight on all three fronts. E.g. by trying to fool & confuse the public á la Coca Cola or spending millions on lobbyists to stop any regulation. Lawsuits may be their biggest vulnerability. But they will fight on all fronts. In a “highly competitive marketplace” they have no other choice.
We should stop expecting the burglar to fix our locks. Yes you too, Michelle Obama.
This isn't going to go away with industry "self-regulation". We need to stop buying this carbage (*). Once they see their revenues plummet, they will adjust or perish.
(*) all credits to Tom Naughton.
Oh, right.
That doesn't happen.
Parents buy the stuff because they are bunch of wimps and can't say no, and want the government to help correct the situation, so they won't feel so bad saying no. They'd rather blame Twinkies and Coke for the fact that they are wimps.
Here's an idea: why not promise your kids to be better parents?
Add a big dollop of real butter and they will eat it.
When the government assumes the role of taking responsibility for its citizens, the citizens will stop taking responsibility for their own lives. And why wouldn't they?
That is the fundamental cause. However, according to Swedish, public schools, the Swedish model is superior. A claim that was presented to me on several occasions and in many different contexts, during elementary and high school.
Clearly it doesn't work. Time to get a clue.
It might be time to consider that isn't the way nature works. That free will doesn't exist in the way you think it exists, or that it does not exist with children and addictive substances. And that highly sophisticated marketing is more influential than anyone comprehends.
Seriously, people saying the same old thing, when it clearly doesn't work that way, are stupid.
Sorry Doc, but I have to agree. Shrek twinkies are never coming into my house, no matter how hard my kids beg. Government money toward real public education ans public pressuere is fine (a la anti-smoking campaign) but government regulation is dangerous.
How long before our government tells me I can't buy full fat dairy or whole eggs?
Kimchi, your wise words and sound advice are wasted here on people who have already convinced themselves of their concludions and the hollow premises on which they are grounded.
That would be alternative #1: Smarter, better informed citizens.
For people who think it's simply about calories it's an uphill struggle to stay healthy and for their kids it's possibly game over.
Firstly the government is supposed to be made up of members including your own representative(s). Have you let your representative know your view on this matter?
Secondly why assume that any such regulation by government is inevitable? Does tighter control over what big business is allowed to do, somehow automatically translate into telling EVERYONE what they can and cannot do?
And last but not least what exactly do you expect would happen if you were denied full fat dairy or whole eggs? Do you really see such a regulation being allowed to stand in the face of public outcry, cross-border shopping and black-market trading? How would such a law be effectively enforced? How many Cuban cigars are smoked in the USA each year?
Exhibit A: see how long the "Fat Tax" lasted in Denmark... http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2012/11/13/denmark-sc...
Sure it makes a great rallying cry for the give me liberty or give me death crowd but it isn't really a realistic option now is it?
I'll be the first to admit that the current democratic system is far from perfect but I see more to be gained by working with it and improving it, than by trying to subvert or even just ignore it.