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October 2008 - Strategy Magazine
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Kids + health = ad ban?

by Ken Wong
page 52

We've heard it all before. Some interest groups call for regulations on advertising. The ad community responds with self-regulatory gestures, arguments about the unenforceable nature thereof and complaints about the injustices done to the good guys and the lack of conclusive scientific evidence. Some watered-down regulation is passed and life goes on.

But this time things may unfold differently, with far-ranging ramifications. And while the industry has embarked upon some good actions to stem the tide, we should recognize that this anti-marketing movement may persevere, no matter how reasonable the arguments presented by advertisers are. You see, this time it isn't about adults who can be expected to grasp the concept of caveat emptor. This time it isn't about preserving constitutional rights. This time it's about children...at least for the time being. That changes the rules governing the debate and its likely resolution.

In March, the Chronic Disease Prevention Association of Canada hosted a conference on "Obesity and the Marketing of Food to Children." It assembled a panel to evaluate the best available legal, scientific or social research for the purpose of forming a policy consensus statement to inform public policy-makers, Canadians and the media. The conference was sponsored by the Public Health Agency of Canada, the B.C. Ministry of Health and the Canadian Institute of Health Research.

The panel called on Health Canada to define what constitutes "unhealthy food and beverages" and to create regulations that ban all marketing of those products to children within two years. It also recommended that this ban include marketing to the parents and institutions that help children make food choices. Moreover, it recommended that all food marketing to children should be banned if an acceptable definition of "unhealthy foods" cannot be agreed upon (word is that a committee to come up with that definition is close to being named).

The panel explicitly noted that the ban extended to include the Internet, promotional activity, product placement, etc. That would include Tim Hortons hockey and camps, Ronald McDonald House Charities and even the Milk Calendar.

That may seem extreme and unlikely, and I'd agree... if it were an isolated event. However, a recent national survey found that half of Canadians favour a ban on all advertising to children under 10. They feel advertising is misleading, damages children's self-esteem and promotes unhealthy habits. All of this despite the efforts of the Advertising Standards Canada and its Canadian Children's Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative, which pledged to either restrict child-directed advertising to self-defined "healthy foods" or to drop all advertising on children's programming by the end of 2008.

And while food may be the initial arena, it sets a dangerous precedent. How long before it creeps into other areas, like electronic games, cellphones and so on? Am I being a fearmonger?

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