The World Health Organization (WHO) is raising the tone in the face of the childhood obesity pandemic, which fundamentally affects those with the least resources. Children are ingesting food that is literally harmful to their development, driven by advertising campaigns and, for some years now, by influential figures on social networks. Faced with this situation, the WHO requires governments to take “stricter” measures to protect children “from the marketing of foods and drinks with a high content of saturated and trans fatty acids, sugars and salt”. How? This UN agency is asking governments to “compulsorily” regulate the advertising of these products.
As Dr. Francesco Branca, Director of the Department of Nutrition and Food Safety of the WHO points out, “calls for responsible marketing practices have not had a significant impact. Governments should establish firm and comprehensive regulations,” he added.
Precisely, this was the argument used a year ago by the Minister of Consumption, Alberto Garzón, to draft a rule that clearly limits the advertising of unhealthy children’s food.
A rule that, despite this, has been relegated to the drawer, as it has not had the support of the Ministry of Agriculture. Garzón explained that the self-control agreement that the industry signed more than two decades ago (the PAOS code) was not being followed, so it was necessary to go further and limit advertising by law.
What did Consum propose? Prohibit the advertising of unhealthy products (including chocolates, sweets, cookies, desserts, juices and ice creams) on all children’s television channels, cinemas showing films suitable for all audiences, in the press aimed at minors and websites, applications, social networks and video sharing services with content intended for under 16s.
Neither could YouTubers or influencers advertise these products. The ban was not absolute. Following the guidelines established by the World Health Organization (WHO), those that widely exceed established indices will never be able to advertise, while the rest can if they do not exceed the amount of sugar, salt or fat marked per 100 grams for each.
What are the foods that could not be advertised in any way? According to the draft of the royal decree, there would be categories of products that could not advertise to minors regardless of the nutrient content. These are all chocolate and sugar confectionery, energy bars, cakes and biscuits. Also energy drinks and ice creams.
The rule established the prohibition for commercial communications about these foods and drinks to feature “mothers or fathers, educators, teachers, professionals in children’s programs, athletes, artists, influencers, people or characters of relevance, public notoriety or proximity to the children’s public, whether real or fictional, who due to their career are likely to constitute a model or example for minors”.
In this sense, the regulatory project defined the term influencer as that person with a high level of influence on the children and youth audience due to their “high level of followers”, without establishing a specific range of the number of followers that would grant the aforementioned condition.
The WHO urges governments to act against this type of advertising because “food marketing continues to be a threat to public health and continues to negatively affect the choice of food by minors”, this entity points out.
