The Dish > No More Cheetos for Children
No More Cheetos for Children
By Andy Steinke
Why are so many children overweight before they ever set foot in elementary school? One consumer rights group, Consumers International, believes junk food marketing is one of the biggest contributors to the phenomenon.
The group, along with the International Obesity Taskforce, has published recommendations for an international code that would regulate the marketing of unhealthy food to children up to 16 years old. The organization will present the recommendations at this May’s assembly of the World Health Organization, a governing bodywithin the United Nations.
There is some evidence to support CI’s position. Results from a 2007 study at Stanford and Johns Hopkins universities showed three- to five-year-olds from California significantly preferred foods they thought were from McDonald’s to identical foods not in McDonald’s wrapping. Surveyors chose to use McDonald’s because it is the largest fast food advertiser in the United States.
The recommended regulatory code is part of CI’s campaign, Junk Food Generation, which aims to stop the marketing of unhealthy foods like McDonald’s to children. Because children don’t realize that the goal of a commercial is to sell a product and not to inform, they are especially susceptible to advertising.
CI’s proposed code would ban radio, TV, and new media advertisements promoting foods high in fat, sugar and salt. It would also forbid promotions of those foods in schools, by celebrities, by cartoon characters and via free giveaways.
Experts at the International Association for the Study of Obesity say one in 10 children worldwide is overweight or obese. Of those, 22 million children under five years old are overweight, according to the WHO.