Sydney Principles: Reducing Commercial Promotion of Foods and Beverages to Children
Following our posting last week regarding the American Academy of Pediatrics and Baby Formula, our friend Claudio Schuftan emailed us about an initiative by the International Obesity Task Force to reduce the commercial promotion of foods and beverages to children.
In 2006, the IOTF elaborated a draft set of principles to address this issue, called the Sydney Principles. These were subjected to public criticism and a revised, final set of principles was adopted in 2007. The final principles are available on the IOTF website and were published in article from in Public Health Nutrition in May of 2008. Since this article cannot be downloaded for free, you may want to write the lead author, Boyd Swinburn, for a reprint. These principles were developed in collaboration with the WHO Collaborating Centre for Obesity Prevention.
Here are the seven principles:
Actions to reduce commercial promotions to children should:
1. SUPPORT THE RIGHTS OF CHILDREN.
Regulations need to align with and support the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Rome Declaration on World Food Security which endorse the rights of children to adequate, safe and nutritious food.
2. AFFORD SUBSTANTIAL PROTECTION TO CHILDREN.
Children are particularly vulnerable to commercial exploitation, and regulations need to be sufficiently powerful to provide them with a high level of protection. Child protection is the responsibility of every section of society – parents, governments, civil society, and the private sector.
3. BE STATUTORY IN NATURE.
Only legally-enforceable regulations have sufficient authority to ensure a high level of protection for children from targeted marketing and the negative impact that this has on their diets. Industry self-regulation is not designed to achieve this goal.
4. TAKE A WIDE DEFINITION OF COMMERCIAL PROMOTIONS.
Regulations need to encompass all types of commercial targeting of children (e.g. television advertising, print, sponsorships, competitions, loyalty schemes, product placements, relationship marketing, Internet) and be sufficiently flexible to include new marketing methods as they develop.
5. GUARANTEE COMMERCIAL-FREE CHILDHOOD SETTINGS. Regulations need to ensure that childhood settings such as schools, child care, and early childhood education facilities are free from commercial promotions that specifically target children.
6. INCLUDE CROSS BORDER MEDIA.
International agreements need to regulate cross-border media such as Internet, satellite and cable television, and free-to-air television broadcast from neighbouring countries.
7. BE EVALUATED, MONITORED AND ENFORCED.
The regulations need to be evaluated to ensure the expected effects are achieved, independently monitored to ensure compliance, and fully enforced.
Some thoughts:
It is interesting to use these principles as a benchmark to see how far commercial promotion to children has penetrated our society, particularly into the commercial-free childhood settings mentioned in the principles.
In 2003, New York City signed an agreement with Snapple Beverages, making Snapple “the exclusive provider via vending machines of water and fruit juices in the City’s 1,200 schools” and New York City’s official beverage. One wonders why New York City needed an official beverage. In addition:
As a part of its commitment to schools, Snapple has entered into a five-year agreement to exclusively vend bottled spring water and 100 per cent juices in all schools. Snapple, in cooperation with the Department of Education, will develop new products that meet the City’s strict nutrition guidelines. Snapple’s new product line ‘100% Juiced!’ will include four flavors, Green Apple, Orange Mango, Grape and Fruit Punch, with Vitamins A, C, D and Calcium.
I suppose this is an attempt to show that Snapple is promoting nutrition. But bottled water is not necessarily safer than public water, it is more expensive than tap water, and is much less ecologicaly friendly. Many of us feel that juice drinking is part of the obesity problem, not part of its solution. In short, this type of marketing gives a stamp of nutritional approval to corporate-friendly diets. When kids are thirsty, shouldn’t they be going to the drinking fountain?
And, of course, there is the promotion of food to children in healthcare settings. Perhaps the extreme form of this has been the placing of McDonald’s Restaurants in New York City Hospitals.
For background to this issue, the IOTF webpage offers several detailed reports.
Posted by Matt Anderson
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