CONSUMERS’ ASSOCIATION OF IRELAND AND CHILDREN’S RIGHTS ALLIANCE JOIN FORCES AGAINST JUNK FOOD ADVERTISING
 
The Consumers’ Association of Ireland (CAI) and the Children’s Rights Alliance have today joined forces, on World Consumer Rights Day (Saturday 15 March), to call for a ban on junk food advertising before the 9pm watershed, in a bid to slash the levels of child obesity in Ireland.  Both organisations are also calling on the Government to take a leading role in lobbying the World Health Organisation to introduce an international code on the marketing of unhealthy foods to children.
 
Today’s joint statement is part of the global campaign, Junk Food Generation, co-ordinated by Consumers International.  Unhealthy diets are a major cause of heart disease, diabetes and some cancers, which are on the rise particularly in low and middle-income countries.  These preventable diseases come at a massive cost to human life and cripple the health service.  About 22 million children around the world, under the age of five, are already overweight or obese.  In 2005, it was estimated that 327,000 children on the island of Ireland were overweight or obese and that this figure would increase by almost 11,000 per annum.  As it is widely held that the media is one of the most important vehicles for influencing consumers in relation to food selection and health behaviours, the CAI and the Alliance believe one of the key solutions to this problem is to restrict the advertising of unhealthy foods in Ireland. 
 
With the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland (BCI) currently reviewing its Children’s Advertising Code, both the Alliance and the CAI strongly encourage it to restrict the advertising of unhealthy foods to children, prior to the 9pm watershed, thereby demonstrating that the BCI and the State put the interests, health and well being of children ahead of the profits of the food companies and advertising industry.  Currently, processed foods, such as chocolate, crisps, fizzy drinks, sugary breakfast cereals and fast food, are the most heavily promoted and marketed even though dietary guidelines recommend they should be eaten the least. 
 
Dermott Jewell, Chief Executive of the CAI, says: ‘Consumers must have a better knowledge of the nutritional content of the food they eat if they are to make informed choices.  Broadcasters must acknowledge this right as a basic entitlement, especially to the young, and actively demand and ensure that their advertisers’ code acknowledge it also.  Media and advertising interests are far too dominant in this are. Therefore, a balance to ensure the protection of the interests and health of young viewers must be demanded as a minimum and set as a baseline never to be crossed.’
 
Jillian van Turnhout, Chief Executive of the Alliance, says: ‘With the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland currently reviewing its Children’s Advertising Code we have been afforded an excellent opportunity to tackle the way in which young children are the target group for the aggressive advertising of junk food.  Children, particularly those under 12, are targeted because of their significant influence on the foods bought by their parents and in developing brand loyalty in later years.  The BCI now needs to take a stand.  However, the Government can’t leave it up to the BCI as it has its own role to play in tackling advertising from other jurisdictions, like advertising on British channels, by lobbying the World Health Organisation to introduce an international code on the marketing of unhealthy foods to children.  It’s time to throw junk food advertising out with the rubbish’.