Foodwatch wants to limit advertising for unhealthy foods
Created: 01/13/2023, 16:51
By: Fabian Pieper
Consumer advocates criticize advertising for unhealthy food.
© Soeren Stache/dpa
Advertising tempts you to buy.
Since children are particularly susceptible, the consumer advocates from Foodwatch are therefore calling for an advertising ban for unhealthy foods.
Berlin – Children continue to enjoy watching television and are popular consumers.
Product manufacturers who want to sell their products also know this.
That's why they place a lot of extra advertising aimed at children, especially when, statistically speaking, they sit in front of the television most often.
This is the conclusion of a study by the University of Hamburg.
In the evenings in particular, children are often exposed to advertising intended to encourage them to buy unhealthy food – with drastic consequences for their weight.
The consumer advocates from Foodwatch are therefore alarmed and are calling for a rethink, as reported by
kreiszeitung.de
.
In the form of an extensive ban on advertising for unhealthy foods on television and the Internet.
They want to ban advertising for extremely sweet or fatty foods in the nighttime program so that only advertising for healthy foods is played between 6 a.m. and 11 p.m.
Federal government plans advertising restrictions for unhealthy food - consumer advocates are calling for more measures
The federal government is currently working on a draft law to restrict advertising for unhealthy products.
The governing parties had agreed on this in the coalition agreement: "In future, programs and formats for under 14-year-olds will no longer be allowed to advertise to children for foods with a high sugar, fat and salt content," it says.
But Foodwatch doesn't go far enough.
At the end of last year, the organization formulated similar demands in an alliance with health insurance companies, doctors, nutrition and child protection organizations.
And at least the persistence of consumer advocates has already led to a partial success: the supermarket chain Lidl would like to forego advertising aimed at children for its own brands if the products in question are unhealthy.
According to Foodwatch, the colorful packaging would particularly reach small children who go shopping with their parents and are not receptive to television and Internet advertising.
With Spain, a European country has already passed drastic advertising restrictions for unhealthy food.
In Germany, too, a nutrition strategy is still being worked on: Minister Cem Özdemir (Greens), for example, wants to introduce healthier food in canteens and canteens.