ad ban vital to fight obesit
LAURA ANDERSON
August 04, 2006 12:15am
HEALTH Minister Tony Abbott was wrong to say junk food advertising bans would not help fight childhood obesity, according to South Australian research identifying a link.
Flinders University lecturer Kaye Mehta, the chairwoman of the Coalition on Food Advertising to Children, found youngsters took direct action to obtain the fast food or sweet breakfast cereals they saw advertised on television.
She also said her survey of 40 children at two Adelaide primary schools on their reactions to food ads only substantiated the obvious.
"It doesn't take an Einstein to work this out. Many parents have already worked out this is a problem," she said.
Mr Abbott this week said that banning junk food advertising would be ineffective in reducing obesity rates, but Ms Mehta said advertisers would not target children if the commercials were not effective.
"The children in this research spoke out and described their strong recognition of ads," she said. "What came out most strongly was that they act on that information, they act on that effect of ads, and make purchase requests of parents.
"They ask directly, they badger, they bribe."
When most parents initially refused the demands, children were angry and upset.
"And many of them go on to continue to badger their parents," she said.
"The pester power is the very intention of ads. Advertisers would not spend millions of dollars making these ads if they did not work."
Ms Mehta said parents wanted the junk food advertising restrictions Mr Abbott has ruled out.
"Parents want some help in taking away the thing that is making their job so hard," she said. "If we know that something is a cause of childhood obesity, it should be part of the solution.
"To leave it out is in fact the soft solution of our Government bending to industry and their profits and that is totally unacceptable."
Article