Industry bodies turned out in force at the Westminster Diet and Health Forum Consultation Seminar: Food Promotion to Children, to debate Ofcom’s consultation on banning junk food advertising to children.

Ian Blair, senior standards manager at independent broadcasting regulator Ofcom presented delegates with four options for reducing food and drink advertising aimed at children. He said: “TV advertising does have a modest and direct effect in children’s’ food preference…we concluded that action was needed, but the question is - what action?”

The options are: timing restrictions on food products high in fat, salt or sugar (HFSS) shown in programmes specifically aimed at children under nine years old; timing restrictions on all HFSS food and drink advertising aimed at children under 9; and no HFSS food and drink advertising to preschool children plus a volume restriction on such adverts when children are likely to be watching, for example, a limit of 30 seconds per hour between 6am and 9am and between 3pm and 6pm on week days, as well as 6am to 1pm at the weekend.

Ofcom has also opened up a fourth option for the industry to put forward its own proposals for consideration.

Speaking at the forum, Louise Hanson, head of campaigns at Which? deemed the proposals inadequate, saying that adding constraints to adverts before the watershed was not restrictive enough as many children watch programs after 9pm.

Said added that she was disappointed the consultations did not recognise children as being under 16s. “If this [consultation] not done [properly] all other work being done in schools will be undermined,” she said.

Representatives from television channels ITV, Five and Nickelodeon, argued that the loss in revenue from junk food adverts would seriously impact on the quality of programmes for children.

Concerns that food companies would use the money to increase price promotions on junk food were also raised.

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