Four governmental agencies — the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) — yesterday proposed voluntary guidelines for the food industry that would limit “junk food” advertisements aimed at children up to the age of 17. The agencies’ stated goal is to counter the nation’s childhood obesity epidemic. The proposed regulations would affect television and print ad marketing efforts, as well as campaigns on websites, online games and social media. Product placement in movies and the use of movie characters to promote fast-food children’s meals would also be limited.
In response to the newly issued proposal, Dan Jaffe, an executive vice president of the Association of National Advertisers, tells The New York Times, “There’s clearly a demand hidden behind the velvet glove of the voluntary language.”
We here at ACSH acknowledge that the obesity problem is a serious one. ACSH's Dr. Gilbert Ross, however, also believes the new guidelines are too intrusive. “Even though they’re voluntary, companies will likely face heavy pressure to implement them, and I just don’t believe that it’s the government’s responsibility to tell private food manufacturers and advertisers how to do their jobs under the guise of public health.”
Furthermore, who’s going to decide which foods are healthy? “Dietary guidelines are ever-changing, and we often find that food recommendations that were seemingly obvious in 1980 are actually no longer accurate in 2010,” says Dr. Ross. “So who is going to make that judgment call?” He adds, “These voluntary guidelines will most likely work their way into regulations until actual legal restrictions are imposed, and I predict these anti-’junk food’ limitations will become mandates before too long.”