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Advertising to children
Jun. 8th, 2007 10:09 amIt probably hasn't escaped your notice that I regard the current government of the UK with utter, withering contempt and scorn. Every one of their pieces of legislation seems designed to a) obsessively micromanage people's lives because they know best, b) knee-jerkingly react to that day's tabloid headlines, c) remove thousand-year established civil rights like trial by jury as that'll make us easier to herd, or d) a combination thereof.
This brings me to the recent bad on advertising junk food to children. Whilst nobody in their right mind claims that if there were no food advertising at children there would be no childhood obeseity, it's true that children are more susceptible to advertising than adults. On the face of it, I'm broadly in favour of a nanny-state Sweden-like ban on all advertising to children. This might strike you as odd coming from me, but as I see it we don't expect kids to make mature decisions on most aspects of their lives and so expecting them to be able to make informed financial and dietary decisions seems inconsistent. In the light of this, you'd think I'd be pretty hunky-dory with the latest 'junk food' advertising ban.
Ha. No.
In line with the current band of governmental troglodytes' slack-jawed, drooling, ill-considered and witless legislative record, the 'no junk food to kidz' law is riddled with holes.
Here's an example list of a few foods. Which would you think would be banned from advertising under well written legislation? The answers might surprise you.
Actually, with a lead-in like that, they probably won't.
[Poll #999313]
You probably guessed.
Strict interpretation of the law means that advertising of All-Bran, Marmite and Dried raisins (and, according to ASDA today, milk) is banned, but it's just fine and dandy to advertise Chicken Nuggets, Chips and Coke Zero - and I'm getting this from the editorial section of Media Week, the advertising industry magazine of note, so this isn't just me ranting. the advertisers themselves already know they can drive a truck throught the legislation and are already happily doing so.
So when you plonk your delightful spawn in front of the telly to act as a nanny, you can be sure that they're only getting the healthy message.
Thumbs up for the government.
This brings me to the recent bad on advertising junk food to children. Whilst nobody in their right mind claims that if there were no food advertising at children there would be no childhood obeseity, it's true that children are more susceptible to advertising than adults. On the face of it, I'm broadly in favour of a nanny-state Sweden-like ban on all advertising to children. This might strike you as odd coming from me, but as I see it we don't expect kids to make mature decisions on most aspects of their lives and so expecting them to be able to make informed financial and dietary decisions seems inconsistent. In the light of this, you'd think I'd be pretty hunky-dory with the latest 'junk food' advertising ban.
Ha. No.
In line with the current band of governmental troglodytes' slack-jawed, drooling, ill-considered and witless legislative record, the 'no junk food to kidz' law is riddled with holes.
Here's an example list of a few foods. Which would you think would be banned from advertising under well written legislation? The answers might surprise you.
Actually, with a lead-in like that, they probably won't.
[Poll #999313]
You probably guessed.
Strict interpretation of the law means that advertising of All-Bran, Marmite and Dried raisins (and, according to ASDA today, milk) is banned, but it's just fine and dandy to advertise Chicken Nuggets, Chips and Coke Zero - and I'm getting this from the editorial section of Media Week, the advertising industry magazine of note, so this isn't just me ranting. the advertisers themselves already know they can drive a truck throught the legislation and are already happily doing so.
So when you plonk your delightful spawn in front of the telly to act as a nanny, you can be sure that they're only getting the healthy message.
Thumbs up for the government.
