The Cœur Stroke organization is concerned about the harmful effects on children’s health caused by the advertising of foods and drinks with low nutritional value. He urges the federal government to publish draft regulations to ban these advertisements by the end of June.
Since 2015, Justin Trudeau’s government has promised a ban on advertising food and drinks aimed at children. Cœur AVC wants the regulations to be in place by the end of June, before Parliament adjourns for the summer. He hopes for a definitive implementation by winter 2025 before potential elections.
“We have been waiting for a draft regulation from the government for a while and now time is running out. It was planned for spring 2024 and we still haven’t had this first regulation filed,” Marc-André Parenteau, senior advisor for government affairs and advocacy, Quebec section, told Cœur AVC in an interview.
The results of a new poll from the organization show that nearly 70% of the population supports this long-standing commitment by Mr. Trudeau.
Heart & Stroke reminds us that a diet rich in ultra-processed foods and a high consumption of sugary drinks increase the future risk of cardiovascular disease, stroke, diabetes, cancer, dental caries and mortality.
“For children aged 9-13, approximately 60% of their calorie intake comes from ultra-processed foods. It’s huge,” comments Mr. Parenteau.
The advertisements denounced are those which concern foods and drinks high in salt, sugar or saturated fat and which are aimed at under 13s.
“The literature shows us that children are more vulnerable to advertising since their brain is still developing,” said Mr. Parenteau. So they are all the more affected by food advertising and incidentally by begging parents to buy certain products. »
The poll, conducted by Pollara Strategic Insights among 1,600 adults from May 24 to 27, also reveals that 76% of Canadians find it difficult for parents to monitor and control the advertisements seen by their children.
For the regulations to be effective, Mr. Parenteau believes that it should regulate all variations of advertising aimed at children. We can think of cartoon characters on cereal boxes, packaging placed at eye level in grocery stores and which directly targets children, toys which are given with the purchase of a meal in a catering establishment. fast.
“Ideally, for it to be complete and effective, we ask that it come to supervise all these mediums, therefore television, digital media, points of sale, packaging, brand advertising and certain places in schools” , explains Mr. Parenteau.
In Quebec, the Consumer Protection Act prohibits commercial advertising aimed at children under 13, but it does not affect packaging.
According to Cœur AVC, the lobbying activities of the low-nutritional food and beverage industry are holding back the proposed regulation that would ban advertisements aimed at children.
The organization estimates that this industry spends 1 billion on advertising aimed at children “because it works”.
“It’s an important market for them, but one that can have considerable impacts on health, so it’s important to regulate it,” argues Mr. Parenteau.
He does, however, welcome the many measures in the government’s healthy eating strategy that has been put in place, including front-of-pack nutrition labelling, a ban on trans fats in all foods sold in the country and the $1 billion investment in a national school food program.
However, Mr. Parenteau describes the ban on advertising to children as a “centerpiece” and deplores the fact that it is absent from the government’s strategy.