The World Health Organization (WHO) raises the tone in the face of the childhood obesity pandemic that mainly affects those with the fewest resources. Minors eat food that is literally harmful to their development, driven by advertising campaigns and, for a few 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 beverages with a high content of saturated and trans fatty acids, sugars, and salt.” As? This UN agency asks governments to “compulsorily” regulate the advertising of these products.
And it is that, as pointed out by Dr. Francesco Branca, director of the Department of Nutrition and Food Safety of the WHO, “calls for responsible marketing practices have not had a significant impact. Governments should set strong and comprehensive regulations,” he added.
This was precisely the argument used a year ago by the Minister of Consumption, Alberto Garzón, to draft a rule clearly limiting the advertising of unhealthy baby food.
A norm that, however, has been relegated to the drawer as it does not have the support of the Ministry of Agriculture. Garzón explained that the self-control agreement signed by the industry more than two decades ago (the PAOS code) was not being complied with, so it was necessary to go further and limit advertising by law.
What did Consumption propose? Prohibit the advertising of unhealthy products (including chocolates, sweets, cookies, desserts, juices and ice creams) on all children’s television channels, movie theaters that show films suitable for all audiences, in press that is aimed at minors and web pages, applications, social networks and video sharing services whose content is intended for children under 16 years of age.
Youtubers and influencers could not advertise these products either. The ban was not absolute. Following the guidelines established by the World Health Organization (WHO), those that widely exceed established rates may never be advertised, while the rest could do so if they do not exceed the amount of sugar, salt or fat marked per 100 grams for each of them.
What foods are those that could not be advertised in any way? According to the draft of the royal decree, it 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 cookies. Also energy drinks and ice creams.
The norm established the prohibition that in commercial communications about these foods and drinks appear “mothers or fathers, educators, teachers, professionals of 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 trajectory are likely to constitute a model or example for minors.”
In this sense, the regulatory project defined the term influencer as a person with a high level of influence over children and young people due to their “high level of followers”, without establishing a specific range of the number of followers that would grant said 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 food choices of minors,” says this entity.
