1,000 junk food TV ads per year targeting children

Young children who are particularly susceptible to advertising are subjected to more than 1,000 television ads per year promoting unhealthy food, experts have warned.

The ‘Candy-Coated Marketing’ seminar took place at the Gibson Hotel in Dublin yesterday examining the role of food marketing to children and also heard that television remains the biggest influence on them in terms of ads.

The event was hosted by Safefood as part of its All Island Obesity Action Forum and was addressed by Dr Joao Breda, of the World Health Organisation.