A 9pm watershed on TV junk food advertising will come into force in October 2025, the government has confirmed.
This will come alongside a total ban on paid-for online advertising for junk food, under plans to tackle childhood obesity.
A 9pm watershed on TV junk food advertising will come into force in October 2025, the government has confirmed.
This will come alongside a total ban on paid-for online advertising for junk food, under plans to tackle childhood obesity.
Eh? Ads may play a part, but options and parent education are more important. I see people not realizing how bad junk food is for thier kids, don’t have many options or simply dont care.
A kid can see an ad, but a kid can’t buy it. It’s up to the parents to be telling thier kid no, and giving them healthier options. Far better will be Informing parents better strategies on feeding thier kids and ensuring healthy options are readily available.
As long as parents think a cup of soda everyday is fine for thier kid and healthy options are prohibitively expensive (Monetarily or time), we will get nowhere.
Nah there’s a reason companies invest so much into targeting kids specifically. It works. Kids ask their parents for the garbage they see on TV, parents oblige.
The personally responsibility argument is bullshit for systemic issues. You think 42% of americans are obese because we’re all coincidentally bad at making decisions and europeans are just smarter? Regulations matter.
As I said, I think availability and awareness are as big of factors. I 100% believe most Europeans have better access to healthier foods then many americans. Granted ads may spur kids to bug thier parents but if parents did better at saying no, and could give thier kids better options. I think it’s not just a personal responsibility but a communal, a government responsibility to ensure access to information and food are available. When no better options are made available, there is a problem.
I vividly remember pushing my parents to go McDonald’s after I saw an advertisement with the newest Happy Meal toys. I wanted the toy in the first place, the food tasted good as a kid but even then not amazing. I think ads do have a huge influence on which toys and which food kids ask for.
Fair, that’s the part where I think a parent needs to have the will and authority to say no to their kid, but I understand that can be difficult. This may do some good but as I am sure some loopholes will form and it doesn’t forbid ads 100%, it wont stop Fast Food ads. Even if fast food wasn’t directly advertised, I believe there is more factors, like the availability of healthy options, many families don’t have the time or money to make good healthy meals. This law is a good thing, but I personally don’t see it as a huge win, just a patch that will be touted to solve problems it doesn’t address.
Parents should say no, and now this will make it easier for them to do so :)