Tuesday, April 17, 2007

Food industry ads to promote
healthy food choices

We may not be seeing many changes in magazine ads being directed at parents to buy sugary and nutrition-deficient foods for their kids, but the food industry has pledged to significantly modify the ad messages aimed at kids under 12, largely on television.

"Junk food has replaced tobacco as the young’s Public Enemy #1," says followthemedia.com, a website that concentrates on European and North American media issues. And, apparently, Canadian advertisers are intent on being leaders in the crusade against childhood obesity.

Fifteen of Canada's food and beverage industry heavyweights announced this week that they will devote at least 50 per cent of their ads directed to children under 12 toward the promotion of healthy dietary choices and/or active living messages. (The campaign is an extension of a program that began back in 2004 with a television public service announcement under the Long Live Kids banner.)

Among the advertisers participating -- many of whom are in magazines as well as television -- are: Cadbury Schweppes, Campbell, Coca-Cola Ltd., General Mills, Hershey, Janes Family Foods, Kellogg, Kraft, McCain Foods,McDonald’s, Nestlé, Parmalat, PepsiCo, Unilever and Weston Foods.

Advertising Standards Canada, the independent will be responsible for publishing the commitments of the participating companies and publicly reporting on the results.

The Minister of Health, the Hon. Tony Clement, Concerned Children’s Advertisers (CCA), Food & Consumer Products of Canada (FCPC) and Advertising Standards Canada (ASC) laid out the program which will include new interpretation guidelines for children’s food and beverage advertising in the Broadcast Code for Advertising to Children and the Canadian Code of Advertising Standards.

A social marketing, education and media literacy program created by CCA, Long Live Kids includes a series of child-directed television public service announcements, a new online workshop for parents and educators, workshops by Canadian educator Linda Millar, as well as curriculum and community resources for children in grades K – 8. The first Long
Live Kids television PSA launched in 2004.

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