Junk food is a culprit in the fattening of Canada’s children. But outright bans on junk food ads won’t help the problem. That’s the message marketers are taking to the federal government, which is studying childhood obesity and could implement tougher restrictions on advertising to kids.
The House of Commons standing committee on health, which began hearings in September, is trying to get a snapshot of what’s causing obesity, including food, advertising, physical activity and social reasons.
But there’s no need to clamp down on advertisers, says Cathy Loblaw, president of Concerned Children’s Advertisers, a non-profit group made up of 22 Canadian companies that market to children. She appeared before the committee in Ottawa Oct. 19, highlighting Canada’s “multi-layered approach, codes and regulatory components,” which she says are among the best in the world. “Advertising Standards Canada has had a very regulated and rigorous system for advertising to kids for well over 20 years,” she says. “In other countries, that doesn’t exist.”
Canada’s Broadcast Code for Advertising to Children bars well-known characters from endorsing a product. It also requires pre-clearance of kids’ commercials by a committee that includes parents and ad industry reps.
Bill Jeffery, national coordinator for the Centre for Science in the Public Interest disagrees with the CCA. He told the committee that the government should revisit rules now to protect kids from ads that promote poor nutrition and lazy living. “Parliament’s prompt intervention is preferable to years of test-case litigation that might determine that all ads directed at children are inherently misleading and therefore illegal, because of children’s unique susceptibility to manipulation.”
However, Loblaw says statistics show ad bans don’t prevent kids from getting fat. In Quebec, ads geared towards kids under 13 have been banned since 1980. But as Loblaw points out, they haven’t protected kids against obesity. In 1981, 11.5% of children in Quebec were overweight, a rate that was among the lowest in Canada. As of 2004, the rate had doubled to 23%, compared to the national average of 26%.
Still, momentum for restrictions is building. A 2005 report by the Ontario Medical Association states “the regulations on advertising to children in Canada are not strictly enforced. Both government and self-regulations are present, but they are not entirely separated from one another.”
“Restrictions won’t help and we have proof of that,” says Bob Reaume, vice-president of policy and research at the Association of Canadian Advertisers. “But marketers know that as social issues change, our approach to advertising has to change as well.” Marketers are responding to concerns that they contribute to kids’ bulging waistlines. In October, Walt Disney Co. said it would limit licensing for most of its characters to food products low in fat and sugar. And General Mills Canada has reformulated all its cereal products with whole grains, including Cheerios, Oatmeal Crisp and Lucky Charms.
What’s next for the advertising industry? Reaume, who also presented remarks to the committee, says they’ll just wait for the report, expected sometime in December. “I think we made an excellent case for the safeguards we have in our self-regulatory system and so we’re hopeful that members of the committee will see it the same way.”
