Finally! Action is being undertaken to combat the ridiculous claims made by breakfast cereal companies.
From the article;A senior policy adviser for the Obesity Policy Coalition, Jane Martin, said sophisticated, big-budget marketing campaigns were targeting children through TV, magazines, the internet and text messages.
"The vast majority of these are for unhealthy foods and research shows these marketing techniques influence children … [in] what they prefer to eat … what they actually do eat, and what they pester their parents to buy for them."
The group has proposed a ban on all junk food advertising aimed at children, in particular the use of celebrities, cartoons and sport stars to sell products. Ms Martin said many food labels - especially claims such as "99 per cent fat free" - were disingenuous and designed to confuse parents.
"Consumers face a difficult task, because we know that they don't really understand very well the nutrition panel on the side of the pack and that's why we're proposing for something simpler to be implemented, which will help direct them to healthier choices."
The group's proposed front- of-pack traffic-light labelling scheme uses colours to outline whether a product has high (red) medium (orange) or low (green) levels of fat, salt and sugar.
The head of Diabetes Australia in Victoria, Greg Johnson, said thousands of children were growing fat on "junk food dressed as breakfast cereals".
Source: http://tinyurl.com/2zw45yMy opinion:I'm incredibly pleased to see this issue getting some mainstream attention. Breakfast cereal corporations certainly are targeting our nation's children, and remember; corporations exist for one reason, to make money, period!
An obvious ploy in marketing is "association", for example; placing images of Shrek on cereal boxes. And what is Shrek doing there? ...he's manipulating parents into buying the product on which he's displayed. It's the equivalent of the Marlboro man, but for kids.
So what can we do about it?Firstly; create awareness, realise that food companies exist to make money, period.
Secondly; educate ourselves about nutrition, learn about what we put in our mouth and how it effects us.
And thirdly; vote with our wallets and DON'T buy the junk that food companies are passing off as healthy food.
