Plans unveiled to strengthen junk food advertising rules

Junk food advertising to children across TV and print looks set to be subject to government-approved guidelines under plans mooted by the Health Promotion Board.

In a public consultation launched today, the HPB and Ministry of Health outlined plans to review and strengthen standards for advertising food and drinks that are high in fat, sugar and salt to children in Singapore.

The consultation signals a significant departure from existing guidelines, which currently only stipulate that adverts should not actively encourage children to eat excessively throughout the day or to replace main meals with confectionary or snack food.

Under the plans, a set of government-approved food advertising guidelines for children would be introduced to serve as a code of conduct for the industry.

The proposed restrictions would apply to television and print media, with the MoH and HPB citing evidence that television viewing and reading are the preferred leisure activities among children in Singapore. Read more http://www.campaignsingapore.sg/Article/324339,plans-unveiled-to-strengthen-junk-food-advertising-rules.aspx?eid=23&edate=20121127&utm_source=20121127&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=daily_newsletter

It added that in 2011 the food and beverage industry in Singapore spent four-fifth of advertising dollars on television and print media.