Lineker blames parents, not crisps, for fat children

FORMER England footballer Gary Lineker, who has earned millions of pounds promoting Walkers crisps, yesterday blamed parents for allowing children to become overweight.

Lineker said lack of exercise, not fatty foods, were the main cause of related health problems.

“The main point people are missing is today’s health problems are nothing to do with snacks like crisps,” he told trade magazine The Grocer. “Many people are simply not exercising. We have to fight to get our kids away from the TV or video games, and that is down to parents. A packet of crisps won’t do them any harm.”

Lineker has been the public face of Walkers adverts for the past decade.

In the interview, the 42-year-old footballing hero said consumers should be allowed to decide whether a product was healthy or not.

The Parents Jury, a group of 1,200 mothers and fathers, gave Lineker its Greedy Star Award in February for using his celebrity status to promote ‘fatty, sugary or salty foods to children’.

Some analysts believe Lineker has helped Walkers sell an extra 112 million packets of crisps in the past two years alone by trading on his image as football’s ‘Mr Nice Guy’.

Annie Seeley of the Parents Jury condemned Lineker’s comments:

Blaming parents is the excuse the industry always uses. A lot of crisps are bought on the way to or from school when parents have limited control.

“The industry always says crisps should not be eaten all the time. If so, why don’t they say this on the label?”

According to Walkers, a 34.5g bag of salt and vinegar crisps contains 11.4g of fat, of which 5.2g are the more harmful saturates.