KEY POINTS:
Ads for unhealthy fizzy drinks and chippies during children's television programmes are to be axed under a voluntary deal between the Government and broadcasters.
However, health campaigners say the move won't achieve what the Government hopes it will - a reduction in child obesity rates - because children do most of their television watching at prime time.
This forum debate has now closed. Here is a selection of your views on the topic.
Deb (Auckland)
I have been obese all my life and can tell you that I have been triggered to eat junk food (if I have it in the house) more so if an advert comes on that is tempting. As one of the other readers pointed out that his kids tear out to raid the fridge in the ads - they are probably in tune to all the ads being on anyway and automatically feel hungry and triggered when the ads come on. This is a good start so good on the government for considering this, but there needs to be a parental emphasis on how much junk food is in the house to start with so that kids are not going for this type of food. There needs to be more advertising around healthy food to balance things out.
Jess (Auckland)
Ahh so does the government think banning KFC adds are going to stop kids from eating it? What a load of hogs wash. I grew up in the 80/90s with heaps of advertising. Just because it was there didnt automatically mean I was going to get it. Come on wake up Parents cant look after their children so they blame everything else I mean seriously if you think your child needs to loose weight stop giving them the means (either the money or the food) its simple grow up and stop complaining that its some one else fault
Leon
No, I do not think banning junk food ads on TV will help the situation. They are still visible on billboards, wrappers, street signage, they advertise in mail boxes and in the media, hand out "buy-one-get-one-free" vouchers, etc, etc. Children are children and are guided by the actions of their parents (or lack thereof). Parents, and mothers especially, need to cook wholesome meals for their kids. And children must be trained by both parents to eat those healthy meals. Junk food should become a once a week outing at the most. There is not much more one can do.
Mark V
Not a bad idea, but c'mon, kids are kids. They all know about chocolate, fizzy drinks etc. Even if they show only vegetable ads during kids TV programmes, they will still want ice cream. It's like McDonalds offering kids fruit with their happy meals, not a bad idea, but lets remember, never underestimate the intelligence of a child. You go to McDonalds you eat burgers and fries. Next they will be wanting to ban toy ads during the Christmas season as this will encourage people to spend that they haven't got on gifts. Let kids be kids.
Jason
Only a very small amount. Not enough to make any difference what so ever. I am a naturopath who runs a busy clinic treating people for a range of problems. 95 per cent of all illness I see is simply uneducated people with no will power. In general, people are very ignorant, thats why advertising has such an effect on them. The advertising companies know this. People in general have no will power and think that letting children have any say about diet is good for them. When a child is born they know nothing. You the parent teach it everything, condition its mind into certain ways of living; eating, cleaning itself and reading etc. A little boy is left in the jungle, a pack of wolves rare him and feed him. He grows up and becomes half man half animal. The moral of the story; you do what you are taught to. Children are like little animals - they are blank until you instill into them some ways of living. What ever the parents do, so do the children. The question: how do you treat your children. Do you really think junk food is a treat? Will its not, its a toxin; everything at Mcdonalds for example is Toxic, even the salads. What will you feed your children next, chips and canned foods? 2 minute noodles?
Sean
This will not change a thing. Today there is far more awareness of the problems that bad food can cause. We are far more informed than we were when I was a child. Its up to the parents. As a parent myself I am careful about what I feed my daughter. I encourage her to run around and be active. Theres no way she can sit in front of the TV for more than 5 mins, so when she wants to get up and play outside I go with her and encourage it. Needless to say she is fit and healthy. Its up to the parents to encourage and influence the healthy habits of their kids.
Bruce (Te Kuiti)
Junk food adverts and children. More of telling people what to do with their kids. Unless the parents are responsible parents then it won't work.
John Robb
It's unlikely that this will have the desired effect, better to restrict the viewing and lock up the Playstations etc. and kick the little buggers outside for lots of exercise.
John the skeptic
Of course banning junk-food advertising around children's viewing times will help. But why not go a one step further and ban advertising to children full-stop? Junkfood is a gateway product into consumerism. Children do not have the mental defences necessary (healthy skepticism) to stop adverts from turning them into consumerist drones that advertisers want them to be. You, Me and our children were not put on this earth to be consumers to make a few people rich and the rest of us fat.
Sam the Mann
If we remove the ads then there should be a reversal replacement. We all are guilty of the cravings when we see mouth dripping fast food ads. And you have to say the ads catch the eye. We should use that affect use it to advertise and promote Fruit and Vege shops, Gyms that are not pricey and not showing beautiful people on them...etc you my drift. Change the psyche because TV can respond more and communicate to the brains wishes then someone nagging you to stop eating, you need to exercise.
Craig F
Lets ban car advertising too. Cars pollute, cause accidents, and make people lazy. Also, lets ban airline commercials, for they encourage people to go on long distance journeys burning fossil fuels, which increases that particular person's carbon footprint. We should also ban make-up ads. Make-up can be argued makes females adhere to a stereotype of what beauty is. This diminishes self esteem. I could go on forever, but common sense will eventually kick in.
Col (Auckland)
No, not at all. It's like the ads on TV about the effects of smoking hasn't really stopped smokers from puffing away. The junk food/ fizzy drinks on the shelves anywhere they are sold are already advertising for themselves.
Sammy
Here is another case of kiwis passing the buck on personal responsibility. If we know how to eat healthy, and we don't, then it is wrong to waste our tax dollars paying the government to rule on something we can totally fix ourselves. What ever happened to personal discipline? That is the only way people achieve anything in life. Applying themselves diligently over time, staying focused on the goal. Weight loss, business success, sporting achievement and satisfaction. Sure, some people are not born into an ideal environment to learn healthy eating habits, but once they learn about it, the onus is on them as an individual. Advocating law changes like this don't do anything but make our laziness a politicians problem.
Ano
It's a very good start, public television should hold itself to the highest of standards (including programming *hint*).
Cynic
While they're at it, why don't they ban TV, consoles/ PC altogether so children won't sit all day in front of the box, and get up to play sports instead?
Mark (Auckland)
So then, an agreement between the government and broadcasters to ban adds that promote an unhealthy diet for children. What then, about the filthy diet of soft porn that is served up night after night courtesy of certain adds and 'cuts' from movies due to be broadcast later - occurring during 'children's hours'?'
David (Kiwi in London)
The advertising industry spends its money carefully. Its target market (in this case children) is well researched and 'pester power' is employed to great effect in their child focused advertising campaigns. Just ask parents waiting in the supermarket check-out where the easier option is to give-in to their child's demands for junk food. Advertising executives take their objective of getting children to consume copious amounts of junk food very seriously, after all their bonuses depend on it. For people to believe that removing these ads has nil effect is naive in the extreme. The government are aware that the issue is a complex one and should be applauded for taking this small step in the right direction. The debate should now focus on the government having the vision to ban all advertising to children. Norway began this process in 2001 with full government support. Time for NZ to catch up.
Daniel
If junk food ads didn't induce more consumption of junk food, the manufacturers wouldn't waste their money on them. They know the overall power of ads more than does any single viewer.
Dan McElrea
The question is not by how much stopping TV junk food advertising help in fighting obesity, only will it help. The answer to this has got to be yes. The advertisers of junk food would not be spending good money on TV advertising if they thought it would not encourage spending on their products.
Now a Grandmother
In the 60's and 80's when my children were growing up I always cooked an evening meal of meat or fish and three or more vegetables, puddings were a treat so usually the evening meal was finished up with a piece of fresh fruit. This in the days when I was a non and then a working mother. Such food is quick and easy to prepare and for little more than the price of what you pay for one takeaway from McDonald's for example, you can still prepare a nourishing meal for maybe 2-3 people. Advertising of junk food shouldn't enter into a child's desires of what they eat - the parents decide on their diet and cook accordingly. Laziness and lack of forward proper meal planning on the part of parents and not lack of time is what childhood obesity is all about.
Andrew Atkin
Why not? It won't hurt the economy, because advertising doesn't drive the economy - consumer demand does. Advertising only creates biases for some products at the ultimate expense of others. I'm sure kids don't need "Mc" rammed down their throats (no pun intended).
Nats (Auckland)
I think that banning these adverts are a great idea. As a mother of a 2 year old son i know that anything that he sees on television is wonderful otherwise it wouldn't be showing. Unfortunately thats not great enough to stop this epidemic that this country has with child obesity. Parents tend to raise their kids up the way they were raised. That means if you were fed taro, cornbeef, pies and crap all the time it's obviously normal and so that is the food that you will have in the house all the time because you don't know any different.
Ms Auckland
Don't think banning junk food TV ads will stop obesity, though such ads should perhaps be moved to late evening when small kids are alseep. But, educating school children from an early age, and their parents, too, that junk is nothing but junk may do the trick. Also, junk food shops, like McDonalds, Burger King etc should all be forced to include in their advertisements and menu cards, bill boards etc how much unhealthy fat and salt their plastic food contain. And it should be stated in large letters, so it cannot be missed.
A.H
I wonder who actually, literally, hand feed our children. Those fast food shops? Fizzy drink companies? Unhealthy snack companies? Fatty food vendors? No!! Is us, the parents, the caregivers. If we as parents and caregivers can not teach our children the right way of dieting and healthy eating habit, instead piling on chips, burgers and those which are "unhealthy" to our children as snacks or meals. If we ourselves kept eating those fatty food, do no exercise and set bad examples. What chances do our children have but to be obese? We are so eager to blame these money-sucking companies (although they are), instead of realizing that education comes from home, the parents, the caregivers, not just television with cuttie characters.
Trish Baker (Orakei)
This change to advertising unhealthy foods does not go far enough as we all know that children watch television during prime time, not just childrens TV. If the government was really serious and not just being its usual "lets just do enough to keep everyone happy" scenario then they would introduce an outright ban on advertising of all unhealthy foods. Humans are now the fattest mammals in the world. In NZ we are staring down the barrel of an exploding epidemic of diseases related to our diet and lack of activity and our health system and its budjet is not going to be able to cope. The statistics are there nearly a third of NZ children are now overweight and 10 per cent are clinically obese and 60 per cent of Polynesian children are overweight. We all need to seriously wake up. Why is the Government so half hearted about this and not giving it the attention and time it gave the smacking bill when the implications and outcomes are so very, very serious.
Mom (Wellington)
As a mom of two boys, aged 4 and 2, I can tell you that banning certain food ads on TV will not help the growing problem of bad eating habits and the long term effect on our society. Education starts at home and with what parents put in front of their children at meal time. Parents struggle to meet their financial needs and have no time to make meal times those special times kids spend with their family. We rush around and throw whatever is convenient and cheap on the table or the couch. We are overworked and time with our families is getting shorter and shorter. The solution lies in the way our society has changed and it would take a great effort to change, but we can start one household at a time, one ad at a time. The government also has a responsibility to make sure that we have access to quality, reasonably priced foods by subsidizing producers, prices and helping those with low incomes.
Alex
Yes I do think ads for unhealthy foods being axed from children's TV will help in fighting obesity, I also believe that unhealthy food ads should be axed from all TV before watershed, the reason for this is that most of the time children are watching normal TV and only spend a few hrs a week watching children's TV. The only way to fight obesity amongst the children of NZ, is to change peoples views on food in general. We have cultures in NZ that believe big is beautiful, and as long as that is the case things will not change. Life has changed and fast food is a necessity to most families, due to the cost of living, both parents go out to work and do not have time to cook a decent balance meal. Mothers need to be paid to stay at home so that the future of NZ which is the children of NZ eat properly and are nurtured during their young life
Jason, Wellington
I don't like a lot of things this government does, but I actually agree with this one. I would suggest people read the book "Fast Food Nation" by Eric Shlosser to see the length the fast food industry has gone to in the past to market directly to children. Despite recent claims to the contrary, children are not the same as adults as they still need guidance, particularly with nutrition, and are susceptible to clever marketing. Hence I think anything that diminishes the ability of junk food to be marketed to children is a good thing. Parents are busy enough these days that I'm sure it is hard to the convenience of fast food at times, especially when the kids have seen the latest toys being provided. So, to me, this seems like a reasonable thing to do.
Craig (Grey Lynn)
I have no objection to this legislation but I don't think it will do much beyond make it look as if the government is doing something. Governments cannot legislate parental responsibility. Nor will cutting food advertising do anything to increase how physically active kids are - which is the other side of the equation.
Bev
No, it won't make any difference. The direction for eating habits must come from parents and other caregivers. Sitting in front of TV watching ads for junk food will probably result in as much of a weight problem as eating the food in the first place. Kids aren't stupid..they can get "information" about what is available in the junk food line from a myriad of other places aside from TV. It is up to the parents to provide good healthy snack food, a good balanced diet for main meals and a healthy amount of fresh air and exercise. Where do you stop anyway.? Tthere is a whole raft of "instant food" being advertised to and purchased by lazy adults who can't be bothered cooking from wholesome fresh ingredients. This is just as bad as so-called junk food...we are kidding ourselves. We are breeding generation after generation that no longer understands the benefits of cooking properly - no wonder both parents and children find junk food so appealing.
Dave
No amount of banning of so-called unhealthy foods will make any difference. When you have so many 'ballsed-up' families, lazy habits, a crazy insistence on businesses opening longer hours, & a cultural group who see being big (shouldn't that read fat?!) as normal, then what hope has a bit of TV banning got.
Jeff
I notice that a well known multi-national junk food purveyor, instead of advertising product, is now advertising the (supposedly) healthy oil that it (supposedly) uses in the production of those products (although I can not recall whether they actually say that this oil is the only one that is used and, if it is not, in what proportion of product. Let's not forget that the Ribena outrage is still a template for the actions of many large companies). Companies know that advertising is about subliminal messages and branding and not much about specific products. You wait, all the junk food pushers will be advertising the oil they use (or don't use), or the quality of their chairs (or someone else's chairs), and even their playgrounds. Nothing will stop the clever corporate advertising mind finding a way around whatever we can throw their way.
Stubbs (Papakura)
Unbelievable. Children don't need advertisements to tell them that its not far to a Mac or KFC..or Pizza Hut. They don't even watch the adverts..cos when they come on..the children take off and raid the fridge. When schools banned fizzy drinks and sweets from their canteens, .the dairy owners cashed in on many of the students who stopped in on their way for their morning fix. What is the govt going to suggest next.? Close down every franchise of fast food places?
Caroline
I really can't see how banning the ads from TV will help much. It's a fact of life that children will see these unhealthy foods, in the supermarket or at the movies or wherever, and they'll want to have them. It is, or at least it should be, up to the parents to say no, and to teach their children that such foods should be an occasional treat, not an everyday thing. This just seems to be another example of the government's nanny state mentality. Wouldn't it be better to try to encourage parents to take responsibility for their children, and perhaps also look at ways to help low income families afford the foods they should be eating?
Sonia
TV advertising is a hideous thing. I don't believe children should be subjected to any type of advertising at all. While banning junk food ads from children's TV time will not fix the problem, I still think it is still a good idea and a huge step in the right direction. However, I think all of us should really be setting an example by watching little to no TV at all – the negatives far outweigh the positives. It is just a lazy way of life that we have all become accustom to, but that does not mean that it is right.
Japan
Yes, do it! It will help.
Paul Brown (Auckland)
How about this for a crazy idea - why not promote the concept of parents deciding what their children will eat, put a wide range of different food in front of them and they may develop tastes that will place fast food into the realm of "only when I have no other choice." It worked for my family
Eloise Currie
I believe the government is trying to take away what we can & cant watch. I believe the parents have a responsibility to teach their children the right way to be healthy. If the child has grown up eating the wrong foods then what is or isn't on TV is not going to make a difference. It's the right environment that will help a child change the eating habits that they have.
Not Stupid Parent
Again, the Government is having to get involved because parents are too stupid and/or lazy to look after the children and leave them sitting in front of rubbish TV. The reason that the food ads need to be removed is because the food is bad for them! That should be the main reason. People do not read the labels to see what is in them. MSG (flavour enhancer)is added to make people eat more of the same food, increasing obesity. Wake up people! Get rid of the TV! It's just as much rubbish as the food.
Maree - Auckland Mother
I for one would like all advertising of this nature to be banned. I have a healthy 4 year old boy, but this is no thanks to the junk food advertising. All kids know is that when they go to McDonalds they get a free toy. And as for the fact that they are advertised as a "Happy Meal" it's no wonder our kids think it's ok. Ban the blinking lot I say! Our kids would be far better off.
Linda
What a load of political correctness tripe. Its not the fact the kids are getting fatter by eating the foods advertised on TV, it is the fact they are sitting watching TV instead of being outside burning up the excess energy kids have an abundance of normally. What you are doing is hurting the businesses that advertise these products which only a select few deem as high in salt, sugar and fat. Kids dont care what they see on TV except the cartoon or show they are watching, its the parents that do the shopping and buy the weekly/forntnightly groceries. Its the parents that govern what their kids eat and dont eat. What's next - "the anti eating bill?
Joel Seddon
What a load of rubbish. I grew up in the 1980's/1990's and had no problems with obesity and eating wrong because my parents did a good enough job feeding me and not buying me junk all the time. Plus I was very active and that has continued with me to this day due to the routine my parents gave me when I was growing up. IMHO, its just another example of parents getting someone else to do the job for them.
Kids that age watch the ads, but I'm sure they don't really care whether the ads are about Coke or cleaning products as long as they are colourful. Plus, a lot of them watch TV at night anyway. I cant believe the way that children are padded these days from the realities of life -no fizzy drink at school, no hot chips on Fridays, no junk food ads on TV, its all bull.
Paula Weir
This is a good start, but it is only a band-aid on what is a much larger problem with regards to the cost and quality of health foods. At present a large bottle of coke can often be brought much cheaper than two litres of milk. For desperate families struggling to make ends meet the nutritional value of food is often over looked in the immediate need to feed their children. I believe the government need to do more to ensure that healthy food products are priced or subsidised accordingly for low income families, and that adequate education is available to families even if this means a renewal of health food advertising as many parents may be unaware that the foods they are feeding their children are high in fat and sugar Many school canteens still do not comply to healthy food standards and sweets, cakes, fish and chips, and pies are still readily available. Advertising is a small part of a much larger picture which also includes limiting the amount of television our children are watching and getting them outdoors playing sport and exercising.
Craig F
Yes, banning ads for rubbish food, that'll solve the problem. It won't change a thing, kids will still be fat, and parents will still feed kids crap food. The net effect will be that the food they're trying to ban from the TV will become more desirable. We ban TV ads for booze, yet the rates for teenage drunkenness has sky rocketed. How long will this country have to bow down to rampant political correctness?
