New code for food ads for kids

Food advertisements with a strong appeal to children must adhere to a new code launched by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) today.

The Children's Code for Advertising Food was the result of a year-long review of three-year-old codes by the ASA with submissions from the Ministry of Health and other health groups, food standards and nutrition organisations, Otago University's marketing department, and food companies, including McDonalds.

ASA said the code required advertisers to take special care with advertising food that appealed to children, to uphold the role of parents in educating their children to have a balanced diet, and not to mislead about the nutritional value of food.

The new code reflected a desire from the Government, food industry and other groups to "work collectively in the best interests of children's health", ASA excutive director Hilary Souter said.

The industry is self-regulated. Rulings made by the ASA are not legally binding, though most agencies and companied adhere to its rulings.

The new codes states that advertisements should not undermine the food and nutrition policies of the Government, Health Ministry's Food and Nutrition Guidelines or "the health and wellbeing of individuals".

"Principle 1" of the code says all food ads should be prepared with a "due sense of social responsibility to consumers and to society" and specifies that no advertisement should encourage over-consumption of food.

"The quantity of the food depicted in the advertisement should not exceed serving sizes that would be appropriate for consumption by a person or persons of the age depicted," the new code specifies.

"Principle 2" states that advertisements should not by "implication, omission, ambiguity or exaggerated claim mislead or deceive... consumers".

This includes foods high in fat not being allowed to portray in any way that suggests they are beneficial to health, while ads for foods high in sugar should not claim to be "low fat" or "fat free.

- NZPA