Advertising of junk food and alcoholic beverages aimed at children and minors in the EU remains unregulated. The European Parliament itself betrayed its own promises by passing a directive lacking any concreteness. (1)
Junk food advertising, no protection for minors in EU
The Audiovisual Media Services (AVMS) Directive is supposed to protect minors from the onslaught of food and drink advertisements that are hazardous to their health. Instead, it merely ‘encourages‘ member states to ‘support‘ Big Food‘s self-regulation, which has already proven to be wholly ineffective with respect to its goals.
Child protection from junk-food advertising is in fact referred to in entirely generic terms. ‘Nationally and internationally, there are widely recognized nutritional guidelines, such as the World Health Organization’s Regional Office for Europe’s Nutritional Profile Model, aimed at differentiating foods on the basis of their nutritional composition in television advertisements for foods aimed at children‘ (EU dir. 2018/1808, recital 28).
However, no cogent measures are stability to protect minors from junk food advertising. ‘Member states should be encouraged to ensure that co-regulation and self-regulation, including through codes of conduct, are used to effectively reduce children’s exposure to audiovisual commercial communications about food and beverages that are high in salt, sugar, fat, saturated fat, or trans-fatty acids, or otherwise not in accordance with such national or international nutritional guidelines‘.
Advertising of alcoholic beverages and alcopops, no protection for minors in EU
No guarantees are offered by this directive either to protect minors with respect to advertising of alcoholic beverages and alcopops. ‘Similarly, member states should be encouraged to ensure that self-regulatory and co-regulatory codes of conduct are used to effectively reduce the exposure of children and minors to audiovisual commercial communications related to alcoholic beverages‘ (AVMS Directive, recital 29).
The unjustifiable motivation is always the same. ‘A number of self-regulatory or co-regulatory schemes exist at the Union and national levels for the purpose of responsible marketing of alcoholic beverages, including in audiovisual commercial communications. Such schemes should be further promoted, particularly those aimed at ensuring that responsible consumption messages accompany audiovisual commercial communications of alcoholic beverages’.
Unfair advertising, childhood obesity and alcoholism
Advertising of junk food and alcoholic beverages is thus carried on without restraint to attract young children to ultra-processed and shoddy foods, the consumption of which is as unnecessary as it is harmful. Unnecessary calories produced by fat, sugar, and salt. The perfect mix for generating addiction and causing disease.
Big Food
relies on social media and vloggers
to undermine minors without the filters of parents and reason. With brilliant financial results, as the costs of these advertising tools are far lower than others but the yield is extraordinary on a large, defenseless audience.
The European Commission, but also the MEPs who are supposed to represent us, is therefore to be credited with prioritizing the interests of the finance industry over the health of our children. Childhood obesity, youth alcoholism and related diseases meanwhile are rampant, in the Continent piloted by a few old men.
Dario Dongo and Marta Strinati
Notes
(1) See EU dir. 2018/1808 on ‘amending Directive 2010/13/EU on the coordination of certain provisions laid down by law, regulation or administrative action in Member States concerning the provision of audiovisual media services (Audiovisual Media Services Directive), in view of changing market realities,’ at https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/IT/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX:32018L1808&from=EN
In the Council on 6.11.18, the text of the directive was approved with Denmark, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic, Finland, and Ireland voting against and the United Kingdom abstaining.
The directive comes into effect on Dec. 18, 2018 and must be transposed by member states by 9/19/20.
Dario Dongo, lawyer and journalist, PhD in international food law, founder of WIISE (FARE - GIFT - Food Times) and Égalité.
Professional journalist since January 1995, he has worked for newspapers (Il Messaggero, Paese Sera, La Stampa) and periodicals (NumeroUno, Il Salvagente). She is the author of journalistic surveys on food, she has published the book "Reading labels to know what we eat".
