Marketing of unhealthy food to young children
Brazilian David and multinational Goliath
Madam
You recently published a comment on transnational food and drink companies’ advertising and marketing to children(Reference Cannon1). Brazilian consumers, especially those who prefer food to additives and/or synthetic nutrients, day after day are getting more organised to defend their right to nutritionally, socially, economically and environmentally healthy food. In the last five years several mobilising actions have been carried out through governmental and non-governmental sectors.
In 2006 the Brazilian National Health Surveillance Agency (ANVISA) launched a proposal to regulate advertising and marketing of food products with high content of sugar, saturated fat, trans fat and sodium, and also sugary soft drinks(2). The proposal was first launched for public consultation. Anyone, from consumers to policy makers and industry CEOs, could send their contributions and suggestions to the proposal(3). This started a broader discussion between consumers and the food industry in Brazil. While two years have passed since the consultation was closed to public contributions, the proposal has not yet become law.
Remaining steps include agreement of the nutrient cut-offs that will define which food products should have their advertisements regulated. This is in the context of battles with lobbyists from the food and advertisement industries, who seek to prevent or at least delay any inconvenient regulations.
Meanwhile, a study conducted by the Brazilian Institute of Consumer Defence (IDEC) and the Child and Consumer Project (Alana Institute)(4) has evaluated the advertisements and the nutritional composition of eighteen products of twelve multinational food companies (Burger King, Cadbury Adams, Coca-Cola, Danone, Ferrero, Kellogg’s, Kraft Foods, Mars, McDonald’s, Nestlé, PepsiCo and Unilever). This shows that if ANVISA’s proposal had already been implemented, all the advertisements analysed would be prohibited in Brazil.
In 2008 these companies promised not to advertise unhealthy food and drinks to children up to 12 years old. Some went further and promised, for example, not to use licensed characters or not to produce any kind of food and drink advertisement to children, irrespective of nutritional composition(Reference Powell, Mackay, Rosenfeld, Michaels, Bulcke, Nooyi, Kent and Cescau5–7).
However, nine of them (Burger King, Cadbury Adams, Coca-Cola, Danone, Ferrero, Kraft Foods, McDonald’s, Nestlé and PepsiCo) do not obey even their own self-regulation rules in Brazil(3). The IDEC study also shows that the international, European and US pledges(4–6) signed by these companies have not been honoured in Brazil.
