Ban Junk Food Ads Before 9pm Charity Calls

Despite the Daily Mail Sad Faced parents who gurn into the camera, bemoaning the fact their chunky child was classed as overweight at the reception class weigh in, statistically, 30 per cent of children in the South West are leaving primary school overweight or obese. That  is 17,000 primary school children who are more at risk from developing heart disease in later life.

To help curb the trend, The British Heart Foundation (BHF) is asking for all junk food TV advertising to be banned before 9pm in the evening.

Director of Policy at the BHF, Mike Hobday warned that children should be ‘protected’ from the marketing techniques used by junk food advertisers.

He said: “It’s worrying that so many children in the South West are obese or overweight. Carrying excess weight into adulthood increases the risk of developing heart disease in later life.

“We mustn’t allow food companies to continue to exploit a failing regulatory system that allows them to bombard TV screens with junk food adverts at the times when the highest numbers of children are watching TV.”

 

 

The charity believes current advertising rules fail families by allowing adverts for pizza, crisps, chocolates and sweets to appear as sponsorship or alongside family friendly shows such as The X Factor.

 

 

For more information about the BHF’s campaign, visit: visit: www.bhf.org.uk/junkfood

ENDS