ACMA Review Lets Down Future Generations, Says Australian Medical Association

Main Category: Nutrition / Diet
Also Included In: Pediatrics / Children's Health;  Sports Medicine / Fitness;  Obesity / Weight Loss / Fitness
Article Date: 30 Aug 2008 - 0:00 PDT

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The Australian Medical Association (AMA) expressed its extreme disappointment and surprise at the Australian Communications and Media Authority's (ACMA's) draft Children's Television Standards 2008.

The draft standards proposals include no general restrictions on food and beverage advertising during children's viewing times. ACMA admitted the issue of food and beverage advertising to children was a core component of the review but said there was not a sufficient consensus on the impact of banning junk food advertising on obesity levels.

The AMA will be making a submission to ACMA, calling for it to revise its recommendations in the final Children's Television Standards.

AMA President, Dr Rosanna Capolingua, urged all groups concerned with child health and obesity to also make their concerns known about the draft standards.

"It is unconscionable to think that a considered review of children's television standards would not include protecting children from the influence of junk food advertising. I think many people will be shocked to find out that ACMA intends to continue to allow junk food companies to focus their advertising efforts on vulnerable children and young people," she said.

"Childhood obesity is one of the greatest health risks in Australia today. It causes a significant burden on the health system and puts our children at risk of a number of health complications, including diabetes."

Dr Capolingua said that currently about two-thirds of advertising during high-rating children's programs promoted junk food.

"It is absurd for ACMA to allege that advertising junk food to children does not influence their desire for and consumption of these foods. Why else would advertisers bother to advertise their products if there were no 'causal' effect?

"Children are unsophisticated consumers of media - there is a very real danger that exposing them to a high volume of junk food advertising will undermine the healthy food messages they may receive from their parents or teachers. In proposing to ban the use of program characters and other celebrities in promotions aimed at children, ACMA even refers to 'children's inherent susceptibility to advertising'."

"In a nation with an escalating childhood obesity problem, it is simply unacceptable to allow these ads to continue to air during children's prime-time TV," she said.

The AMA is a member of the Coalition on Food Advertising to Children (CFAC) that sent a comprehensive briefing paper to Federal and State MPs last year - calling for an immediate ban on junk food ads during children's television time.

In 2007, CFAC commissioned a survey that found that 90 per cent of parents supported the AMA's position that advertising foods high in fat, sugar and salt directly to children was unconscionable.

The AMA Position Statement on Obesity can be found here.

Australian Medical Association