Can Banning Ads for Junk Food Directed at Kids Help Fight the Scourge of Childhood Obesity???

In Canada today, as in all of North America, we have a health problem that risks becoming a crisis for our society and health care system in the future. That problem is the increase in childhood obesity. Let's face it, we have more and more obese children in our society today. The numbers and studies have long since proved that. Sadly, very little has been done thus far to help curb this trend. A few years back in Ontario, we saw the banning of the sale of pop, chips and candy in schools, but that didn't stop the problem. Many parents just started sending these items from home, and the kids kept consuming. We have also seen a move to implement mandatory physical activity in regular class time, 20 minutes a day. Sadly, this move seems to be just as ineffective, as 20 minutes is hardly time for a workout, and with the increasing pressures on classroom time and the demands for less and less homework, there aren't enough hours or minutes in the day to fit it all in. So what else can be done to try to help stop this problem from becoming that crisis?

Well, how about doing more to protect kids by banning the advertising of junk food directed at kids? This is the idea being floated by Ontario NDP MPP and Education Critic Rosario Marchese. On Monday he plans to introduce a bill that will amend the Consumer Protection Act to prohibit commercial television advertising for food or drink that is directed at a child under the age of 13. As Mr. Marchese points out, the deck seems to be stacked against kids when it comes to trying to decipher what foods and drinks they should be consuming:

" We believe that marketers know when marketing works and it does affect dietary choices that children make... We know that corporations hire a lot of psychologists to market adequately to every category of age groups that one can think of. So we know that it affects kids... What kids see on television is high in calories and low in nutrients... That's generally what kids watch on television."

Mr. Marchese makes a good point in his comments. How often do you see ads on TV marketing fruits, vegetables and other nutritious foods to kids? How much more likely are you to see ads for McDonald's, Coke/Pepsi or Doritos than for carrots? Now some will say that this will just be an attempt to remove personal responsibility and alike, but that's just not the case. This is an attempt to level the playing field. We have this kind of legislation to protect kids from being marketed to from tobacco and alcohol companies, so isn't this just the logical next step? I think it is. This is a idea that's not very new, nor is it one without it's good deal of support. Toronto's medical officer of health has long recommended a ban and Quebec has banned all advertising aimed at children since 1982. If Quebec has been able to do this without any problems for going on 26 years, why can't we do it here???

Now, the one drawback to this proposed bill is that it would also prohibit ads that promote healthy foods like yogurt and cereal. That might be seen by some as a bit extreme, and I can't say that it's perfect, but at least it's treating everyone equally in that regard. But as Mr. Marchese pointed out, he's confident parents will be able to help their children make better dietary choices:

" The general point is that children are very vulnerable and it's very difficult for them to make intellectual distinctions between... good and bad...Because we consider children to be a vulnerable group, our view is that we should prohibit commercial advertising altogether, so that we don't have to worry about distinguishing between this and that. We leave that to parents"

For all of those that are worried about "Nanny State" issues, I hope that helps put your minds at ease. This bill is not about telling parents how to raise their kids. It's about trying to clear away some of those outside influences that parents can't control to help them raise their kids at they wish. Does that mean that some parents will still by and feed their kids this bad food? Yeah, but that's no different than before. This bill is not a solution, it's a tool to work towards that solution. Hopefully if kids aren't being bombarded by ads trying to sell them junk food, they will be in a better position to make the right decisions for themselves. Hopefully the McGuinty Liberals will get behind this bill and help it pass into law. This is an idea that's time as come, and there is no better time than now to make it happen.Recommend this Post