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To help curb childhood obesity, Toronto's board of health wants the government to ban food and beverage advertising aimed at children under 13.
Dr. David McKeown explains that " 'children are exposed to large amounts of marketing for low-nutrition, high-calorie food," and the rate of childhood obesity continues rise, which leads to serious health problems in adulthood.
Bob Reaume of the Association of Canadian Advertisers, says, " 'we believe that advertising bans are simplistic and miss the mark.' " He points out that " 'the more than 25-year ban on children's advertising in Quebec has not been successful.' " The province has a slightly higher proportion of obese and overweight children than Alberta, according to Statistics Canada numbers.
Martine Painchaud, executive director of the Quebec Coalition on Weight Problems, argues that advertising bans are helpful because they avoid the problem over what foods are healthy and what are not.
McKeown says that the city government does not have the power to impose an advertising ban. There is currently no policy on advertising food and beverages to children in city facilities, including TTC vehicles and stations. City-run child care centres and libraries don't allow commercial food advertising (Toronto Star, 02/27/2008).
United States
Despite the government crackdown on advertising unhealthy foods to kids in the U.S., spending has been up. According to TNS Media Intelligence, overall TV spending by McDonald's, Kellogg, General Mills, and Campbell Soup rose to $1.7 billion in 2007, up from $1.6 billion the previous year. Roughly $204 million was spent on Nickelodeon and the Cartoon Network.
After scrutiny from the Federal Trade Commission and outcry from Republican Ed Markey over unhealthy food advertising to children, some marketers dropped ads for foods that did not meet nutritional guidelines, and put money towards promoting healthier options.
Kellogg decided not to advertise food with over 200 calories per serving to kids, while General Mills stopped promoting ones with over 175 (Advertising Age, 02/25/2008).
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