Day 299 - 13 Nov 96 - Page 17
1 Sue Dibb from the National Food Alliance, who was employed
2 to research the effects of food advertising on children,
3 related about the National Food Alliance having called for
4 a ban on advertising of sugary and fatty foods at times
5 when large numbers of children were likely to be watching
6 television.
7
8 She gave examples of how that had happened in other
9 countries, and it might be that you think what does it
10 matter what happens in other countries, but it is clear
11 that if it is going on in other countries, that there are
12 these bans, that there certainly is a wide section of the
13 population who do view this type of advertisement as being
14 something undesirable, and so obviously we should be
15 entitled to express that view as well.
16
17 In her view, the cumulative effect of much food advertising
18 resulted in harm to children in the sense that it
19 encouraged inappropriate nutritional practices which would
20 have implications for children's health and for their
21 health in later life. And her point of view was that in
22 the debate over the future of food advertising, public
23 health should be given priority over the wishes of
24 advertisers. Obviously, our position would be that
25 people's health is far more important than the wish of
26 companies like McDonald's to use advertising to increase
27 their profits.
28
29 I don't know whether you want me to stop for the break.
30
31 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Yes, we will take our five minute break.
32
33 (Short Adjournment)
34
35 MS. STEEL: Just carrying on with Sue Dibb, she referred to the
36 fact that children had been described by one marketing
37 company as an advertiser's dream and she had actually
38 written a book using that as the title for the book,
39 "Advertiser's Dream, Nutritionist's Nightmare".
40
41 She said that children were effectively encouraged to wield
42 pester power over their parents, and that in a recent
43 survey nearly half of the parents of children aged over
44 five said that they often gave in to buying foods which
45 they would not otherwise buy, as a result of that pester
46 power. And that almost two-thirds of those questioned felt
47 that there should be tougher restrictions on advertising of
48 food and soft drinks to children.
49
50 She also referred to the seminar which she had attended
51 which was organised by and for people in the advertising
52 industry and that seminar was entitled "Pester Power, How
53 to Reach Kids in 1994", and that seminar discussed the most
54 effective techniques for advertising to children and all
55 the techniques which were referred to were used by
56 McDonald's in their advertisements; for example, seeking to
57 draw children into the McDonald's world, the use of
58 characters such as ronald mcdonald which she said was a
59 major trend in children's food and drink marketing and
60 could be said to play on children's affection and loyalty
