How TV food advertising restrictions work
- Find out which family TV shows featured ads for unhealthy foods
- Latest research shows that current regulations are failing our children
- How many of the top 20 programmes for under 16s are covered by the regulations?
Advertising to children
Current rules don't cover the programmes that are most popular with children
If your children watch popular programmes such as Beat the Star or Animals do the funniest things, they could be watching ads for foods high in fat, sugar and salt.
Ofcom, the communications regulator, is reviewing Government restrictions on TV advertising to children, but our research shows that companies are getting around the rules.
'Particular appeal'
Adverts for foods that are high in fat, salt or sugar are not permitted 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 Beat the Star, may actually be watched by more children than a programme like The Simpsons, yet not be covered by the rules.
We want to see the rules extended to cover the programmes that are most popular with children.
Top TV programmes
Our latest research looked at programmes with the largest under 16s audiences on ITV1, Channel 4, Channel 5 and Sky One from 9th June to 22nd June 2008.
None of the five most popular programmes were covered by the restrictions. Because of this, adverts for products such as Coca-Cola which contains 13 spoons of sugar per 500ml, and Kellogg's Coco Pops, which is over a third sugar, were shown.
Here's what we discovered about the three most-watched programmes:
Beat the Star
- Watched by 532,300 under 16s
- Adverts included: Coca-Cola, Kellogg's Rice Krispies, Kraft's Dairylea Dunkers Nachos, Maryland Chocolate Chip Cookies, Oreo Cookies and Sprite
Hulk (film, 2003)
- Watched by 409,700 under 16s
- Adverts included: Coca-Cola, Cadbury's Creme Egg Twisted, Kellogg's Coco Pops and Oreo Cookies
Animals do the funniest things
- Watched by 370,600 under 16s
- Adverts included: Cadbury's Creme Egg Twisted, Kraft's Dairylea Dunkers Nachos, Maryland Chocolate Chip Cookies, Starburst
The top 20
| Amount of under 16s watching programmes with unhealthy food adverts | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | Programme and ranking | Under 16s watching | Examples of foods high in fat, sugar and salt advertised |
| 1 | Beat the Star | 532,300 | Coca-Cola, Kellogg’s Rice Krispies, Kraft’s Dairylea Dunkers Nachos, Maryland Chocolate Chip Cookies, Oreo Cookies, Sprite |
| 2 | Film: Hulk (2003) | 409,700 | Coca-Cola, Cadbury’s Creme Egg Twisted, Kellogg’s Coco Pops, Oreo Cookies |
| 3 | Animals do the funniest things | 370,600 | Cadbury’s Creme Egg Twisted, Kraft’s Dairylea Dunkers Nachos, Maryland Chocolate Chip Cookies, Starburst |
| 4 | Emmerdale | 369,800 | Coca-Cola, Kellogg’s Coco Pops, Nestlé Cheerios, Sprite |
| 5 | My child won’t eat | 331,900 | Coca Cola, Nestlé’s Oat Cheerios |
| 6 | The Simpsonsa | 328,000 | n/a |
| 7 | Euro 2008 Live | 321,300 | Fanta, Starburst |
| 8 | Coronation Street | 265,900 | Coca Cola, Kellogg’s Coco Pops, Kraft’s Dairylea Dunkers Nachos, Maryland Chocolate Chip Cookies, Oreo Cookies |
| 9 | Superhuman: Britain’s biggest babies | 258,500 | McVities Go Ahead Yoghurt Breaks (plain) |
| 10 | Tonight with Trevor McDonald | 255,800 | Kellogg’s Coco Pops |
| 11 | 10 years younger | 250,900 | Coca-Cola |
| 12 | The Bill | 249,200 | Dr Oetker Paula Dessert, Kellogg’s Coco Pops Kellogg’s Rice Krispies, Maryland Chocolate Chip Cookies |
| 13 | Film: Mr and Mrs Smith (2005) | 247,200 | Dr Oetker Paula Dessert, Maryland Chocolate Chip Cookies |
| 14 | Spongebob Squarepantsa | 225,200 | n/a |
| 15 | Shaggy and Scooby Doo get a cluea | 217,900 | n/a |
| 16 | Film: Bewitched | 203,400 | n/a |
| 17 | The Royal | 182,200 | Kellogg’s Coco Pops, Kellogg’s, Special K |
| 18 | Power Rangers operation overdrivea | 182,000 | n/a |
| 19 | Film: From Russia with love | 180,000 | Dr Oetker Paula Dessert, Kellogg’s Rice Krispies, Nabisco Oreo Cookies |
| 20 | F1: Grand Prix | 177,100 | Cadbury Creme Egg Twisted, Coca-Cola, Sprite |
Table notes
- Covered by current Ofcom restrictions
Junk food marketing
If you're concerned about the influence of junk food marketing on your kids we've got more information to help:
- Find out about techniques marketers use to target children
- Read tips on how to encourage your kids to eat a healthy diet
- Get in touch to tell us your views on kids food marketing
- Learn about what we're doing on our Kids' food campaign
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