The British government decides to introduce a ban on online advertisements for junk-food, or junk food, to address the problem of obesity, overweight and related diseases in minors. A revolutionary proposal, now undergoing public consultation.
Food products with excessive fat, sugar and salt(High in Fats, Sugar and Sodium, HFSS) contents should be excluded from marketing on social networks, advergamers andinfluencer marketing aimed at children and adolescents. In Europe and Italy, however, no protection.
Predatory marketing and neuroprogramming
Big Food ‘s predatory marketing negatively influences the food consumption of younger people, as UNICEF and WHO have also recently reported. TV, web, and social networks bombard their prey with overt and covert advertising messages, especially through influencers, bloggers, and vloggers.
Neuromarketing strategies are effective in two respects that go beyond the goal of selling the specific product:
– Increase the amount of food ingested immediately after exposure to the advertisement. By stimulating off-meal consumption of nutritionally unbalanced and fickle products (e.g., Coca-Cola, Nutella,
– Altering food preferences bypairing junk-food with (false) positive emotions and situations. And to the pounding. Neuroprogramming is thus carried out, which is all the more effective with the youngest children, as shown in appropriate studies. (1)
UK, public consultations and nutrition policies
In March-June 2019, Theresa May’s executive had run an initial consultation on TV and online advertising restrictions to limit children’s exposure to HFSS food advertisements. (2) As 72 percent and 70 percent of participants were in favor of banning junk-food advertising before 9 p.m. – on TV and on the web, respectively – in June 2019, the government introduced such measures.
On 10.11.2020, Boris Johnson’s government launched a new consultation, as part of the nutrition strategy. (3) In the perspective of going further, banning all online junk food advertisements. Particularly with regard to HFSS foods aimed at minors, which-as the European Commission ascertained in a special study(Joint Research Center, JRC, 2019), without doing anything about it-dominates the overall supply. (4)
UK, nutrition strategy
The United Kingdom, as it turns out, has begun to address the epidemic of childhood obesity and overweight by adopting a system of measuring anthropometric data of all children in the first and last year of elementary school. With the aim of collecting the qualitative-quantitative data needed for appropriate assessment of public health risks(Non-Communicable Diseases, NCD) associated with obesity and overweight.
The risk prevention and mitigation strategy is articulated as follows:
– junk food. Drastically restrict advertising and distribution in certain places (following the examples of India and Mexico). Incentivize food reformulation (as already done with the Soda Tax) and portion reduction,
– education and care. Nutrition education policies, such as the new ‘Better Health‘ campaign (and as Italy promised to do, with the State-Regions agreement 17.1.19 lacking any follow-up) and promotion of exercise. (4) Introduction of energy value (kcal) on alcoholic beverage labels. Weight management services, dietary counseling, and guidance on reading food labels.
Banning online advertisements of junk food. Why?
‘We have already committed ourselves To limit HFSS ads on television before 9 p.m. But we also need to go further and address how children can be influenced online, where they are spending more and more time. (…) We want to support people of all ages to make healthier choices.’ (Jo Churchill, Minister of Public Health, UK)
The amount of time spent online by children ages 5-15 is steadily increasing. From 2010 to 2017, there has been a 450% increase in spending on food and beverage web advertising, and children are exposed to more than 15 billion pounds of online junk food advertising each year. With the number of views continuing to grow (+3.4 percent the 2020 estimate over 2019). Evidently, this exposure has been exacerbated even more with COVID-19.
Banning junk food advertisements would help protect children from developing unhealthy eating habits. Not only in that obesity is associated with reduced life expectancy and is a risk factor for a number of chronic diseases. But also because there would be evidence that people who are overweight or obese are at greater risk of becoming seriously ill or even dying from COVID-19.
HFSS foods, advertising ban
The London government’s proposed restrictions apply to online advertisements of HFSS foods directed at consumers. With prohibition of:
– promotional emails,
– messaging,
– marketing activities in unpaid space, such as on websites and social media, where the marketer has editorial and/or financial control over the content,
– Banner ads and video ads,
– viral advertisements, with content created by the marketer or by third parties paid by the marketer or otherwise acting under its editorial control, in order to garner following,
– Paid advertising on social media channels. Native content, influencers, etc,
– In-app advertising or apps intended to advertise,
– advergames.
Instead, possible exclusions include:
– B2B(business-to-business) communication,
– Factual information about products and/or services (e.g., product names, nutritional information, ingredients),
– online sales platforms (sites, social channels, apps), as well as direct emails, messages or push notifications to consumers who have opted in to these types of communications. (6) The most delicate aspect.
Checks
A public authority will be charged with regulating the bans and monitoring effective compliance with the new rules. This body should take effective action against advertisers who violate the rules, especially in cases of serious or repeated violations.
Day-to-day responsibility for enforcing rules, handling complaints, providing guidelines and training for operators should remain with theAdvertising Standards Authority (ASA), a self-regulatory body equivalent to the Istituto di Autodisciplina Pubblicitaria (IAP) in Italy.
Operators of sites and social networks will be responsible for compliance with the prohibitions, taking into account also the level of control over advertising and the procedures adopted to ensure compliance.
Covid-19 and obesity emergency. No Hope?
Excess weight is one of the comorbidities that expose people to an increased risk of serious complications and death as a result of Covid-19 infection. And this risk increases significantly asbody mass index (BMI) increases. The report ‘Excess weight and COVID-19: insights from new evidence‘ shows almost three times the prevalence of obese people compared to the general population (8% vs. 2.9%) among patients with COVID-19 in intensive care units. (5)
The risk of accumulating weight and losing health during the pandemic that has now been going on for 8 months is exacerbated by lockdowns and other containment measures that reduce opportunities for exercise, even moderate exercise, and increase web connection time for work and leisure. The British government is showing responsible pragmatism, while the EU continues to do nothing to protect minors from the storm of junk food and alcoholic beverage advertising, even covert advertising.
Is all Hope lost, in the whirlpools of lobbying?
Dario Dongo and Giulia Torre
Notes
(1) Anna Elizabeth Coates, Charlotte Alice Hardman, Jason Christian Grovenor Halford, Paul Christiansen, Emma Jane Boyland (2019). The effect of influencer marketing of food and a “protective” advertising disclosure on children’s food intake. Pediatric Obesity https://doi.org/10.1111/ijpo.12540
(2) Foods high in fat, sugar, salt (HFSS) include foods that do not fall under the widespread concept of ‘junk food’. Such as raisins, raisins, fruit in syrup, sweetened yogurts, etc. V. https://iea.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/IEA_Briefing_March2019_approval.pdf
(3) UK Government. New public consultation on total ban of online advertising for unhealthy foods. Press release 10.11.20,
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-public-consultation-on-total-ban-of-online-advertising-for-unhealthy-foods
(4) The importance of physical activity in combating obesity has already been the subject of a dedicated strategy in the UK in 2015. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/sporting-future-a-new-strategy-for-an-active-nation
(5) J. Blackshaw et al. (2020). Excess weight and COVID-19: insights from new evidence. Public Health England https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/907966/PHE_insight_Excess_weight_and_COVID-19__FINAL.pdf
(6) https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/total-restriction-of-online-advertising-for-products-high-in-fat-sugar-and-salt-hfss/introducing-a-total-online-advertising-restriction-for-products-high-in-fat-sugar-and-salt-hfss#progress-since-our-previous-consultation-and-the-rationale-for-a-total-online-hfss-advertising-restriction
Dario Dongo, lawyer and journalist, PhD in international food law, founder of WIISE (FARE - GIFT - Food Times) and Égalité.
Graduated in law, master in European Food Law, she deals with agro-food, veterinary and agricultural legislation. She is a PhD in agrisystem.
