How TV food advertising restrictions work
- Find out which family TV shows featured ads for unhealthy foods
- Our research shows that current regulations are failing our children
- How many of the top 20 programmes for under 16s are covered by the regulations?
What do your kids watch?
Current rules don't cover the programmes that are most popular with children
If your children watch popular programmes such as You’ve Been Framed or Harry Hill’s TV Burp, they could be watching ads for foods high in fat, sugar and salt.
This is despite the fact that Ofcom, the communications regulator, has introduced restrictions to try to protect children from these kinds of ads.
According to the Ofcom rules, adverts for foods that are high in fat, salt or sugar are not allowed in or around programmes that have a ‘particular appeal’ to under-16s. But the problem lies with the definition.
At the moment, Ofcom makes judgements about a programme’s appeal to kids based on the proportion of the audience that is younger than 16, rather than the actual number watching. So a programme with a large audience, such as Dancing on Ice, may actually be watched by more children than a programme like The Simpsons - yet not be covered by the rules.
How much junk food do kids see on TV?
Between 1 January and 14 January 2008 we monitored ITV1, Channel 4, Channel 5 and Sky One. We focussed on programmes with the highest proportion of under-16s in the audience to see which unhealthy foods were being advertised.
Of the 20 most popular programmes, only The Simpsons was covered by the ‘particular appeal’ rule. Most of the others had adverts for unhealthy foods - despite having thousands of viewers in the under-16 age group.
Family favourites
Here's what we discovered about the three most-watched programmes:
Dancing on Ice attracted the largest audience of under 16s
Dancing on Ice
- Watched by 1,110,400 under-16s
- Adverts for unhealthy foods included: Kellogg's Coco Pops, Kellogg's Crunchy Nut Cornflakes and McDonald's Hot and Spicy Quarter Pounder
New You've Been Framed
- Watched by 913,700 under-16s
- Adverts included: Spam fritters, McDonald's Hot and Spicy Quarter Pounder, Kellogg's Special K Cereal Bar
Harry Hill's TV Burp
- Watched by 899,200 under 16s
- Adverts included: Subway Spicy Italian and Italian BMT sandwiches, Blackcurrant Ribena
The top 20 programmes
| Examples of foods high in fat, sugar and salt advertised during the top programmes watched by under 16s (1st-14th January 2008): | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Programme and ranking | Number of under 16s watching (000s) | Viewing Index (covered by controls if 120 or more) | Examples of foods high in fat, sugar and salt advertiseda |
| 1. Dancing on Ice | 1110.4 | 77.68 | Kellogg’s Coco Pops, Kellogg’s Crunchy Nut, McDonald’s Hot and Spicy Quarter Pounder. |
| 2. New You’ve Been Framed! | 913.7 | 108.45 | Spam Fritters, McDonald’s Hot and Spicy Quarter Pounder, Kellogg’s Special K Cereal Bar. |
| 3. Harry Hill’s TV Burp | 899.2 | 97.46 | Ribena Blackcurrant, Subway Spicy Italian and Italian BMT sandwiches. |
| 4. Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (Film) | 681.7 | 117.1 | n/a |
|
5. Primeval |
675.6 | 118.91 | Kellogg’s Coco Pops, Coca Cola, Red Bull. |
| 6. Emmerdale | 600.3 | 48.05 | Kellogg’s Rice Krispie Squares, Kellogg’s Frosties, Walker’s Ready Salted crisps. |
|
7. Mary Poppins (Film) |
575.5 | 106.16 | n/a |
| 8. When Britain First Had Talent | 569.2 | 73.24 | Rowntree Kit Kat, Burger King 3 Pepper Angus Burger, Kellogg’s Coco Pops. |
| 9. Coronation Street | 520.7 | 57.69 | Quaker Snack A Jacks (salt & vinegar and chocolate popcorn), Burger King 3 Pepper Angus Burger, McDonald’s Hot and Spicy Quarter Pounder. |
| 10. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (Film) | 518.4 | 104.65 | n/a |
| 11. Fantastic Four (Film) | 512.3 | 93.46 | n/a |
| 12. All Star Family Fortunes | 485.2 | 58.01 | Rowntree Kit Kat, Burger King 3 Pepper Angus Burger, Kellogg’s Coco Pops. |
| 13. Dancing on Ice – The Skate Off | 479.7 | 39.07 | Kellogg’s Corn Flakes, Kellogg’s Rice Krispies, Ryvita Sweet Chilli Minis. |
| 14. Heartbeat | 473.4 | 37.54 | Burger King 3 Pepper Angus Burger, Kellogg’s Crunchy Nut. |
|
15. The Simpsons |
397.8 | 165.11 | Covered by Ofcom restrictions. |
| 16. Big Brother Celebrity Hijack | 387.7 | 78.83 | Burger King 3 Pepper Angus Burger, McDonald’s Hot and Spicy Quarter Pounder. |
| 17. The Bill | 384.6 | 47.23 | Spam Fritters, Kellogg’s Rice Krispie Squares, Coca Cola. |
| 18. Bike Squad | 383 | 50.78 | Kellogg’s Coco Pops, McDonalds Hot and Spicy Quarter Pounder. |
| 19. The Funny Side of the Farm | 380.2 | 49.05 | Kellogg’s Special K Cereal Bar. |
| 20. Jamie’s Fowl Dinners | 348.2 | 56.24 | Cheese Strings. |
Table notes
- Based on Nielsen data. Foods high in fat, sugar and salt as defined by the Food Standards Agency’s nutrient profiling model underpinning the Government’s TV advertising restrictions and analysed by researchers from the British Heart Foundation Health promotion Group at Oxford University.
Find out more
If you’re concerned about the influence of junk food marketing on your kids we’ve got more information on the techniques marketers use.
Read our tips on how to encourage your kids to eat a healthy diet. Finally, if you have a strong opinion about junk food marketing, or you've noticed a particularly bad example tell us about it.
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