Day 055 - 25 Nov 94 - Page 40
1
2 Half of the parents of children over five say they think
3 that food advertising encourages their children to spend
4 their pocket money on unsuitable foods.
5
6 The conclusion that the NFA has drawn from this is that
7 parents are firmly united in considering advertising as
8 having a detrimental effect on children's diets and wanting
9 to see further restrictions.
10
11 MS. STEEL: Can I just ask about tougher restrictions? I think
12 this came up during the cross-examination of Mr. Miles. In
13 question 1, do you think it would be necessary for a parent
14 to know exactly what the restrictions were in order to give
15 an opinion on that question?
16 A. I do not think it would be necessary for them to know
17 the details of the codes of practice, because they see the
18 end result, so they know what the end result of that is;
19 and a sizeable number of them, the majority of them, do not
20 consider that that is effective enough.
21
22 MR. MORRIS: So it is tougher restrictions, in reality?
23 A. Yes.
24
25 Q. If we move on from that, are there any other surveys that
26 you know of, that we have not mentioned so far, that have
27 looked into that kind of area?
28 A. There is one other survey that I mentioned in
29 "Children: Advertisers' Dream, Nutrition Nightmare?" which
30 I refer to ---
31
32 Q. Is there a page?
33 A. -- on page 30; and also there is more further
34 information in the references, reference 167, which is on
35 page 47 of the report.
36
37 Q. Can you just very briefly -----
38 A. This is a reference to a survey that was carried out by
39 International Communications and Marketing Research, which
40 was published in the Guardian. This was looking quite
41 broadly at issues that had arisen because of the proposed
42 broadcasting bill. But one of the questions that was asked
43 of the 1,460 adults, in January 1990, was their views on
44 television advertising to children; and this was general;
45 this was not specific to food; this was all types of
46 advertising. That poll found that 61 per cent of those
47 questioned were opposed to television advertising to
48 children.
49
50 Q. Have you a copy of that survey?
51 A. I do not have a copy with me now.
52
53 MR. RAMPTON: My Lord, I observe that it was not one of the
54 documents to which Ms. Dibb gave notice she would be
55 wanting to refer to in evidence. Therefore, it is not
56 before your Lordship, and we do not have a copy of it
57 either.
58
59 MR. MORRIS: Is there a reason why it has not been disclosed?
60 A. There was no reason. I was not, perhaps, prepared---
