By Amanda Lee, TODAY, 1 Oct 2014
Details of advertising guidelines barring junk food and soft drink ads targeted at children — which could affect the way companies such as McDonald’s and Coca-Cola pitch their products — were released yesterday, two years after the Government first announced its intention to restrict such advertisements.
The guidelines require all food-and-beverage products promoted in marketing communications that are targeted at children aged 12 and below to meet “common nutrition criteria” that set out the maximum calorie, salt, fat and sugar content. They will take effect in January.
Food and drink that do not meet the criteria are not allowed to be advertised on all media platforms, including outdoor fixed billboards within 50m of a primary school. Advertisements aired on children’s subscription or free-to-air channels during time belts allocated for children’s programmes are also subject to the guidelines.
In terms of content, an ad could be assessed by the Advertising Standards Authority of Singapore (ASAS) to be targeting children if it uses games, contests, toys or animated characters that would appeal to them. The new guidelines will be incorporated into the Singapore Code of Advertising Practice, which is administered by ASAS.
Should advertisers be found to flout the guidelines, ASAS will ask them to amend the advertisement. If they continue to disregard the request, then ASAS will work with media owners to withhold the advertising space. Recalcitrant advertisers — and their offending ads — will be named and shamed.
After a public consultation exercise by the Ministry of Health (MOH) and the Health Promotion Board (HPB) held in late 2012, the guidelines were developed by a committee comprising representatives from media and advertising industries, the MOH, HPB, ASAS, Singapore Manufacturing Federation and non-profit society Food Industry Asia.
The common nutrition criteria cover 10 categories of food and drinks including dairy products, cereal-based products and meat-based products.
Apart from caps on the levels of calories, sodium, saturated fat and total sugars, the criteria stipulate required quantity of desired nutrients in each category, such as fibre and wholegrain in cereal-based products.
Fourteen companies here, including McDonald’s, Nestle, PepsiCo, Coca-Cola, Kellogg’s and Unilever, had pledged in October 2012 to change the way they advertised to children aged 12 and below, agreeing to advertise products that meet nutritional criteria.
When contacted yesterday, Coca-Cola Singapore and McDonald’s said they welcomed the new guidelines. Both companies said they had taken steps since January last year towards responsible advertising, such as not advertising in programmes or on channels where children under 12 make up 35 per cent or more of the audience.
Consumers Association of Singapore executive director Seah Seng Choon, who sits on the committee that developed the guidelines, said the process took a while because of the need to discuss with food and beverage (F&B) industry players and to get them to prepare for the changes. “(The companies) wanted to ensure that the rules are implementable (and) the rules will not restrict … businesses from publicising their products,” he added.
Over the years, various countries have taken different approaches to tackle the problem, which has been linked to rising obesity in children.
In South Korea and the United Kingdom, advertising unhealthy food to children is against the law on television shows at certain hours or during children’s programmes. Denmark and Spain have guidelines in place, while in the United States, F&B companies voluntarily participate in a self-regulation programme.
While the childhood obesity rate here has been stable over the past three years, overweight and obesity remain key problems for adults due to a sedentary lifestyle and excessive caloric intake, among other factors. “Prevention of childhood obesity is important because overweight and obese children are likely to stay obese into adulthood,” said the committee that developed the guidelines.
Parents with young children welcomed the guidelines, but they noted that healthy eating habits start at home, while schools also have a part to play. Housewife Patricia Tan, 33, who has a seven-year-old daughter, said: “If other family members always eat unhealthy food in front of the child, I don’t think (the guidelines) will help.”
Another parent, Madam G Lee, who is in her 30s, added: “Schools can educate the children on what is unhealthy and healthy food.” Kids are exposed to junk food in other ways apart from advertisements, she noted.
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