Day 065 - 09 Dec 94 - Page 29
1 of advertising for foods that we are encouraged to eat more
2 of, I think that is the effect of it?
3 A. Yes.
4
5 Q. So you would like to see much heavier advertising of things
6 like wholemeal bread and fruit, things like that, on
7 television; is that right?
8 A. The foods we are being encouraged to eat more of are
9 fruits and vegetables and starchy carbohydrates.
10
11 Q. Do you know, apart from bread manufacturers, of any
12 vegetable grower who has sufficient clout or money to be
13 able to put advertisements on television?
14 A. The National Food Alliance has begun to open up
15 discussions with many of the trade associations or
16 commercial interests for promoting the wide range of foods
17 that we are being encouraged to eat more of. There have
18 been successful campaigns; for example, the Sea Fish
19 Industry Authority has been very pleased with the increased
20 consumption of fish following its advertising campaign.
21 Fish is one of those foods we are being encouraged to eat
22 more of.
23
24 Certainly advertising for milk, which is being encouraged
25 children to consume milk, has been successful. Yes,
26 indeed, you correctly identify one of the barriers which is
27 money, but what we have sought to do is not just to end it
28 there and say, "This is the present situation". We would
29 like to explore ways, and are beginning to explore ways, as
30 to try to find funding for much more positive nutritional
31 messages. This is a very important side of the work that
32 the National Food Alliance and I am are involved in. We do
33 make proposals for how that could be done; for example, we
34 propose maybe a levy on advertisers. I have met ----
35
36 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I will ask you to pause there, because
37 I think we may be drifting away from the point a bit.
38 I understand what you say about the dominance of
39 advertising food to children being directed at foods which
40 are high in fat and sugars. It does appear that there is
41 very little, if any, advertising of vegetable products or
42 some of milk to children. That being the case, have you
43 reached the view that the only way to get balance is to
44 remove advertising of fatty and sugary foods to children,
45 that is, banning transmissions at times when large numbers
46 of children are likely to be viewing?
47 A. Yes, that is the position.
48
49 Q. Is that what you are saying?
50 A. That is the position we have adopted at the moment,
51 that is not to say that if things were different -- we very
52 much see this as a process which we believe should be
53 balanced by greater positive nutritional messages. But the
54 sad state of affairs is at the moment, and we are working
55 hard to try and change things, at the moment it would
56 appear that the only way to reach more of a balance is to
57 put forward this proposal.
58
59 MR. RAMPTON: Can I ask you now then a little bit more about the
60 effects, or supposed effects, of advertising on children
