Industry self-regulation to limit junk-food advertising to children is not working, according to a study by the University of Sydney and Cancer Council NSW.
The research, published in the International Journal of Pediatric Obesity, which monitored food and junk food advertising in May last year, found that children who watch two hours of television a day will be exposed to 40 to 50 junk-food ads per week.
The lead author of the study, adjunct senior lecturer for the University of Sydney's Prevention Research Collaboration, Lesley King, told AdNews that before the Responsible Marketing to Children Initiative was introduced in January 2009, children were exposed to roughly the same amount of junk-food advertising.
"This indicates that industry self regulation is not effective. Overall, children are watching just as many junk food ads as they were two years ago. Self-regulation is not restrictive enough. There needs to be stricter self-regulation, or the government needs to become involved to set minimum standards."
Cancer Council NSW nutritionist and director of health strategies Kathy Chapman said: "The issue is that the regulations themselves are inadequate and there hasn’t been widespread uptake of the industry initiative. Food companies' first priority is their bottom line and the industry codes were created with this in mind. Loopholes enable them to continue screening manipulative junk food ads to children, and the wording in these codes are almost impossible to understand."
King refused to name and shame the brands who were at fault, but said that only 14 out of 36 companies that were advertising junk food in 2009 had signed the code introduced by the Australian Food and Grocery Council.
"The problem lies in the voluntary nature of the code. Companies do not even have to sign up, and even if they do, the code is not very restrictive anyway.The offenders span across a range of food types, from fast food, to confectionary, beverages and sugary breakfast cereals."
King said that her research team was currently investigating fast food advertising, in the wake of the Australian Quick Service Restaurant Industry Initiative for Responsible Advertising and Marketing to Children, which was introduced by fast food restaurants in August 2009.
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