Britain bans junk food ads on children’s TV

BRITAIN is to ban adverts for junk food on children’s television in a bid to clamp down on the growing problem of child obesity.

Under the plans announced yesterday by the Ofcom broadcasting regulator, no ads for food and drink products which are high in fat, salt and sugar will be allowed to be broadcast during programmes aimed at under-16s.

The measures will cost broadcasters up to €58 million in lost advertising revenues.

But consumer and health groups protested that they did not go far enough — saying junk food ads should be banned from all programming before 9pm, whether for adults or children.

Philip Cullum, chief executive of the National Consumer Council, said he was “very disappointed” with the proposals as they don’t cover a number of pre-9pm shows watched by children.

“This doesn’t really get to the heart of the issue. They say they have taken a focus on children, but the proposals actually don’t deliver that,” he said.

But Ofcom head Ed Richards defended the decision, saying a total pre-9pm ban would cost broadcasters more than £250m (€369m) per year in revenue.

“The pre-9pm ban would constitute a loss of revenue five times the total amount spent on children’s production each year in the UK outside the BBC,” he said.

Britain’s status as the fat man of Europe was confirmed by a government report last month showing adult obesity rates in Britain were the highest in Europe at 24% — and children are catching up.

In August, a report forecast that 19% of boys aged between two and 15 years and 22% of girls will be obese by 2010, compared to 33% of men and 28% of women at the same time.