12 To Be the Magic Age for EU Food Ads
Kid Ad Law
January 8, 2008
Eleven major food producers have agreed to voluntary
advertising restraints in Europe in the face of
threatened legislation if they did not come up with a
self-regulatory proposal of their own.
The food groups have agreed to halt advertising food and
beverage products to children under the age of 12,
unless the products meet certain nutritional criteria.
While the food companies will be allowed to develop
their own criteria, they should be "based on scientific
evidence and/or applicable national and international
dietary guidelines," according to a release on the
initiative, which goes by the moniker EU Pledge.
The voluntary ad ban applies to advertising on
television, print publications and the Internet.
However, advertisers left themselves leeway to continue
to advertise snack foods and drinks in programming not
specifically aimed at kids, such as sports and family
shows. "Advertising to children under 12 years," the
release noted, "means advertising to media audiences
with a minimum of 50 percent of children under 12
years."
Participating companies together account for more than
59 percent of the food and beverage advertising spent in
the European Union, the release stated. The participants
are Burger King, Coca-Cola, Danone, Ferrero, General
Mills, Kellogg, Kraft, Mars, Nestlé, PepsiCo and
Unilever.
In addition to the ad ban, the companies agreed to
refrain from advertising in schools unless requested by
school authorities to participate in measures for
"educational purposes." The participants have committed
to publishing company-specific guidelines implementing
their pledges by the end of 2008. The release states
there will be independent monitoring of compliance with
the EU Pledge, but does not say which organization will
conduct the monitoring.
The EU's health and consumer affairs commissioner,
Markos Kyprianou, had threatened to force an ad ban
through legislation if companies did not voluntarily
agree to cease advertising food and drink deemed to be
unhealthy to young children. Mr. Kyprianou is said to be
forging ahead with proposed food labeling legislation
that would require companies to state the amounts of
fat, saturated fat, sugar and salt contained in foods.
The EU Pledge goes further than a similar voluntary
effort by food advertisers in the United States
coordinated by the Council of Better Business Bureaus (CBBB).
Participating companies in the CBBB's initiative did not
agree across the board to refrain from advertising sweet
drinks and snack foods to young children. They did agree
to devote half their advertising budget aimed at
children to healthy lifestyle messaging, and to refrain
from using third-party licensed characters in
advertising aimed primarily at children under 12.