TELEVISION advertising of food aimed at children — such as sugary breakfast cereals, soft drinks, sweets, savoury snacks and fast food outlets — could be banned as the result of a report linking the commercials to unhealthy diets in the young.

Health warnings on packets of savoury snacks and bags of sweets, and rules preventing the marketing of junk food in schools could be introduced. The contents of school vending machines are also under scrutiny.

The moves are part of a campaign by the Government to tackle growing levels of obesity and diabetes in children and to reduce their consumption of sugar, saturated fat and salt.

Action is being co-ordinated by the Food Standards Agency after an academic study showed that television advertisements influence children’s food preferences, buying patterns and eating habits.

Officials have been sent to Sweden to see how a ban on children’s food advertising is working. The agency has also summoned food industry, advertising and broadcasting chiefs to discuss possible action.

An agency spokesman said that a range of measures, including a ban on food advertising during children’s programmes, was being considered. Sir John Krebs, the agency chairman, is to make specific recommendations to ministers in the new year.

Professor Gerard Hastings, of Strathclyde University’s centre for social marketing, found that children’s television advertising was dominated by promotions for sugary breakfast cereals, soft drinks, sweets, savoury snacks and fast food outlets. Other influences on children’s eating were product sponsorship, free food, gifts or tokens, packaging, and promotions linked to films, television programmes and computer games.

He found that many young children, especially those aged under eight, were confused by the powerful advertising messages. Children were unable, for instance, to tell if soft drinks and cereals contained real fruit. There was also evidence that Saturday morning television advertisements had a direct impact on what children wanted to buy when they went shopping with a parent. Professor Hastings acknowleged that so-called pester power was an important factor in the marketing concepts behind the advertisements.

His research — which collated 30,000 pieces of research and then concentrated on 101 — found that television advertising was the main vehicle for the promotion of children’s food but that the items marketed were unhealthy and bore little relation to recommended diets for children.

Instead, children were encouraged to eat for fun or fantasy, tempted by the product endorsement by comic book heroes or favourite television and film characters.

Most of the findings are from North American research but Professor Hastings thought this was valuable because in terms of growing levels of obesity Britain might be heading in the same direction. He made clear, however, that there were other factors contributing to obesity, such as the school run, lack of exercise, and the amount of time spent watching television. “TV is sedentary and people are watching and munching at the same time.” He was anxious now to find solutions. “Let’s all now stop messing about with the issue and get on with it. We need an adult debate. Food marketers have the potential and power to educate children.” MPs on the Health Select Committee have their own inquiry into children’s diet but Debra Shipley, MP for Stourbridge, believes there must be a ban on TV advertising, especially for the under-fives. She described the report as a damning indictment of the advertising industry’s marketing strategies to children.

Sweet and sour

Almost 40 per cent of advertisements during children’s television programmes are for food items high in salt, sugar and saturated fat. Chocolate, breakfast cereals, burgers and sugary yoghurts were among the main products frequently promoted.

The Food Commission, an independent campaign group. found that during 39 hours of viewing for children and teenagers on ITV, Channel 4 and Five, there were about 18 adverts an hour; in some of Five’s children’s output there were 30 adverts.

Out of 721 commercials, 275 were for food, 195 for toys and 24 for computer games. A quarter were for chocolate and other sweets with Kinder Surprise chocolate and chocolate eggs topping the list; 22 per cent of adverts were for dairy products and the most heavily promoted was Nestlé’s Munch Bunch fromage frais.

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