The food pyramidmeets the regulatory pyramidObesity prevention and responsiveregulation of the food industry

Belinda Reeve

The advertised diet

• Sugary breakfast cereal• Soft drinks• Savory snacks • Confectionary• Fast food

http://www.paulspond.com/hugesmile/newspyramid.html

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Responsive regulation: the regulatory pyramid

Adapted from Ayres and Braithwaite (1992)

Regulation of children’s television advertising

Children’s Television Standards 2009

• Apply during, before and after C and P programs designed specifically for children

• Prohibit advertising that is misleading, deceptive or untruthful

• Establish restrictions on scheduling and frequency and content

• Restrict marketing practices including premium offers, prizes, use of characters

Industry Codes of Practice

• Commercial Television Industry Code of Practice, AANA Code of Ethics, Code for Advertising and Marketing Communicationsto Children, Food and Beverages Code

• Adopt CTS prohibitions and restrictions • Extend them to all broadcasts and all

advertisements ‘directed to children’ • Advertisers must not promote an inactive lifestyle

or unhealthy eating or drinking habits

Responsible Marketing Children’s Initiative

• Prohibits advertising of certain foods to children under 12 unless promoting health dietary choices/healthy lifestyle

• Companies to voluntary comply with set of principles and restrictions on marketing techniques

• Companies to develop and implement Company Action Plans

Responsive regulation’s limitations

• Cannot help with industry-specificscheme design problems – For example: limited scope of CTS

• Does not question presumption ofself/co-regulation– Can self-regulatory regimes ever effectively

control children’s food advertising?

Conclusions

• Proposed regulation of television food is co-regulation with background threat of government intervention

• Responsive regulation can be used to further refine the scheme

• But cannot deal with scheme’s specific ‘content’ problems

• Most important problem is that the scheme’s goal does not fit with reducing food advertising