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2009/13: Should the Australian government impose restrictions on fast food advertising to protect children?
Introduction to the media issue
Video clip at right: A Sky News report from October 2008, with interviewees setting out their views on a voluntary advertising code proposal for suppliers of so-called "junk" foods.
If you cannot see this clip, it will be because YouTube is blocked by your network. To view the clip, access from home or from a public library, or from another network which allows YouTube clips.
What they said...
'Our children should be protected from the unfettered bombardment of junk food advertising in their everyday life'
Jane Martin, a senior policy adviser for the Australian Chronic Disease Prevention Alliance
'Self-regulation may prove successful through the reduction of advertisements for unhealthy food products on television during children's prime viewing times'
The Federal House of Representatives Standing Committee on Health and Ageing
The issue at a glance
On Monday June 1, 2009, the Federal House of Representatives Standing Committee on Health and Ageing tabled its report into obesity in Australia titled 'Weighing it up: Obesity in Australia'.
The report made twenty recommendations some of which refer to fast food advertising, labelling and the composition of fast foods.
The report recommended that the effects of fast food advertising should be further investigated, that labelling of food products should be revamped. It also recommended that fast food quality and composition and the promotion of fast food to children should remain a matter for self-regulation by the fast food industry.
A number of medical authorities, consumer choice and public health groups have criticised the report for its failure to recommend decisive action.
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