Leading companies in Europe's vast food and drinks industry have agreed to change their policy on advertising for children, setting standards on nutritional content to encourage healthier lifestyles, they said on Tuesday.
The move followed recent calls by the European Union for the food industry to use commercial
communications to support parents in making the right diet and lifestyle choices for their children, the 11 companies said in a joint statement.
They agreed not to advertise food and drink products on television programmes, websites or in print media where children under the age of 12 could be seen as a target audience, except for products that met specific nutritional criteria.
Neither would they engage in any commercial communications related to food and drink products in primary schools, except where specifically requested by or agreed with the school administration for educational purposes, the statement said.
The companies, which together account for around two-thirds of cash spent each year on food and drink advertising in the EU, would do this voluntarily, by the end of 2008.
They include Coca-Cola, Burger King, Kellogg, Kraft Foods, Mars, Nestle, PepsiCo and Unilever.
Each agreed to publish its policy commitments on child advertising on a special website during the next 12 months.
EU Health Commissioner Markos Kyprianou has opted for a self-regulation approach to obesity, which he has labelled the greatest health threat facing the group.
Data from the European Commission shows the number of EU children classed as overweight or obese has risen from 14 million in 2005 to 22 million this year.
Obesity has more than trebled in many EU countries since the 1980 while obesity-related illnesses account for up to 7 per cent of EU healthcare costs.
- Reuters
