Food and drink advertisers slam Labour’s ‘pick and mix’ public health campaign
The advertising industry has hit back at what it feels is the Labour Party’s thinly-veiled attempt to win votes with a “pick and mix of wishes” from public health pressure groups it claimed will “chart a new course toward a healthy nation” should they be elected.
The party whittled off a list of public health pledges earlier today, including plans to limit sugar, fat and salts in products as well as find better ways to protect children from ads promoting unhealthy foods. Labour’s proposals, which also span the introduction of plain cigarette packaging, form a key part of its election campaign that will warn of the financial impact unhealthy lifestyles could have on the nation’s health system.
Shadow health secretary Andy Burnham, said that NHS costs could rise from £10bn to £17bn a year by 2035 unless firm action is not taken now. Government figures show that 15 per cent of the population aged 15 and under are still obese.
Advertisers, which have worked voluntarily with the Government to curb obesity over the last five years, have dismissed Labour’s proposals as a “vague” and “full of holes” attempt to win votes.
Ian Twinn, director of public affairs at advertising trade body ISBA, added that the party’s proposal to use “advertising techniques as a predictive tool for major industrial intervention” as lacking an “evidence base and is open to challenge”.
“There are good proposals in the paper to support giving people, in particular younger persons, more information on a healthier lifestyle and the goal to get 50 per cent of the UK phychically active by 2025, he added.
"But specific policy proposals like the absolute limit of the percentage of fat, sugar and salt in the make-up of foods that are advertised to children is vague and almost certainly full of holes. For example the style of advertising is the determinate of whether the product is affected or not”.
Burnham cited campaigners’ view that children see ads for unhealthy products when watching adult programming and so should be removed from TV outright. Current advertising laws ban ads from children’s TV but they do not cover popular shows such as Britain’s Got Talent and The X-Facor, which are widely watched by younger viewers.
The party said it would work with the regulator the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) to review ad regulation protecting kids should it come into power. This process, however, will be effective only if it is a two-way conversation based on evidence, Twinn added.
“It will not work if he only asks us in the advertising industry rules-making Committee (CAP and BCAP) to agree with him or face legislation. So far no one arguing this case has come up with serious evidence or arguments of based on proportionality”, he said.
Alongside Labour’s proposed clamp down on advertising, companies also downplayed the impact the party’s plan to impose limits on salt, sugar and fats on foods and drinks would have on fostering healthier lifestyles.
Barbara Gallani, director of regulation, science and health at industry body Food and Drink Federation, warned against introducing “unworkable limits on certain nutrients”, urging for education not regulation.
“Educating families on what an appropriate portion size looks like, as well as frequency of consumption, is key rather than the introduction of unworkable limits on certain nutrients which would jeopardise the quality of some of the world-renowned foods that are made in the UK”, she added.
The announcement is part of Labour’s election battleplan to challenge Prime Minister David Cameron on the future of the country’s state-funded and popular health system.