Walt Disney plans to curb the use of its brand on food products that don’t meet new nutritional guidelines. The company is reformulating the food products that are available at its parks and resorts, aiming to eliminate ‘transfats’ from all the products by 2007, and from its licensed and promotional products by the end of 2008.
To this end, Disney is forming partnerships with manufacturers that produce products that comply with the new guidelines. The guidelines are based on The Dietary Guidelines for Americans and were developed by James Hill, director of the Centre for Human Nutrition at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, and Keith Ayoob, associate clinical professor of paediatrics at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine.
Campbell Soup, Dannon, Kraft Foods, Mars and PepsiCo are collaborating to provide guidelines for snacks and other items sold in schools. Brought about by the Alliance for a Healthier Generation – an initiative of the Clinton Foundation and the American Heart Association – the collaboration is the first of its kind.
The alliance believes that it is integral for obesity in children to be combated by joint ventures between industry, government and not-for-profit organisations. “It will take time, but through coalitions like this of industry and the non-profit sector, we are going to make a real difference in the lives of millions of children by helping them eat healthier and live healthier,” said former president Bill Clinton.
A US taskforce combining members of the food, television and advertising industries,
as well as consumer advocacy groups and health experts is to study the relationship between advertising and the rise in childhood obesity. Brought together by the US Federal Communications Commission, the coalition will eventually issue a report with guidelines on how the advertising industry and media can slow down the rate of obesity among children.
One-third of American children are either obese or at risk. The average child in the US watches 2 to 4 hours of television a day and 40,000 adverts a year. Most of the ads are promoting sugary cereals, toys and fast food. Advocacy groups have called for a ban on all advertising of fast food marketing to children.
Contact; Kevin Martin, Federal Communications Commission
001 202 418 1000
Obesity rules
Children must be protected from the internet and TV marketing of ‘junk’ food by an international code to act as a guideline to governments and industry, according to the International Obesity Task Force. Speaking at the International Congress on Obesity in Sydney in September, representatives from the task force called for a ban on all advertising of junk foods to children and appealed to the Word Health Organization to take the lead with other UN agencies, governments and private partners to develop international standards to protect children.
Neville Rigby, director of policy and public affairs at IASO, said: “If we are to succeed in halting the global epidemic of childhood obesity, we must challenge all governments, the whole business world, and society at large to join us in tackling this together.”
The Kaiser Family Foundation found that 12.2m children visited commercial food and drink websites over a three-month period in 2005 and the UK Food Commission has found that many main brands have sites that specifically target young children. Products are also promoted via text messaging, chat rooms and product ads that are tied in with educational campaigns. The IOTF is part of the International Association for the Study of Obesity (IASO).
Contact; Neville Rigby, International Association for the Study of Obesity/International Obesity Task Force
020 7691 1900 www.iotf.org
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