In prior posts I’ve told you about the Children’s Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative (CFBAI), a voluntary effort by the leading food and beverage companies to rein in their marketing of unhealthy foods and drinks to kids.
In the past, this initiative came up short because each participating company could set its own (often laughable) standards for what constitutes a “better-for-you” food or beverage that could be advertised to kids (see, e.g., “Fox Guards Henhouse: Industry Self-Regulation of Children’s Food Advertising.)
But in a calculated move to ward off possible (voluntary) federal guidelines, the CFBAI in 2014 instituted what it called “meaningful, science-based” nutrition criteria to apply across the board to all of its participating companies. That certainly sounded like good news on its face. But at the time of the announcement, the New York Times rightly noted that the new standard wouldn’t “require food makers to change much — two-thirds of the products the companies now advertise already meet them. And the levels fall far short of nutritional standards proposed by regulators.”
Here’s CFBAI’s 2015 product list and here are a few photos to show you how weak the nutritional standards remain today:
So it was not surprising to read a new report last week in the American Journal of Preventative Medicine which found that “the industry has done everything it promised, in technical terms. Yet, despite consistent compliance, self-regulation has been ineffective in shifting the landscape of food marketing to children away from an overwhelming emphasis on obesogenic products.”
The study’s researchers used the “Go, Slow, Whoa” categories established by the National Institutes of Health to evaluate the products marketed to children throughout 2013, and found that “four of every five food ads (80.5%) aired during children’s programming still promoted nutritionally deficient products, or so-called Whoa foods, which pose health risks when consumed in abundance.” Put another way, the researchers concluded that “the nutritional standards employed by companies participating in the CFBAI do not necessarily reflect high benchmarks.”
Indeed.
The CFBAI responded to the study the only way it really could: by lashing out at the Go, Slow, Whoa standards, which the organization asserted are “simplistic,” “outdated” and ready to be retired.
Perhaps at this point, it might be worth refreshing everyone’s memory about the Go, Slow, Whoa standards. Do you see anything objectionable, controversial or outdated about this dietary advice?
Yeah, me neither.
In a circular twist, the CFBAI also attacked the Go, Slow, Whoa standards by saying they’re at odds with foods allowed in the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) and the School Breakfast Program (SBP). In other words, because the food industry has managed to shoehorn nutritionally questionable products into the school food guidelines, those foods are per se healthy and should be aggressively marketed to kids, even kids who are too young to understand the persuasive intent of advertising.
To address that shaky proposition, a few pictures of NSLP- and SBP-approved foods (made by CFBAI members) say it all:
The bottom line is that the processed food industry is in the business of creating highly processed foods. That’s its entire raison d’être. And highly processed foods are the very foods children (as well as the rest of us) should avoid eating, at least most of the time, to maintain optimal health and to reduce the risk of obesity.
So asking this industry to set its own nutritional standards for a children’s advertising ban is a doomed effort. Yes, industry has made strides by curbing the advertising of candy, soda and other worst-of-the-worst foods, but expecting it to go much further — without governmental regulation — is a pipe dream.
Or, put another way, we could condense the entire American Journal of Preventative Medicine study down to these ten words buried within it:
“. . . profit motives are at cross-purposes with concerns about children’s health“
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Georgianna says
I’m floored by the products that are still allowed in schools even with the implementation of the new standards. Ideally the new “Smart Snacks” would be low-fat dairy, nuts (but with allergies… maybe not?), fruits and vegetables. However, it’s a large captive audience and food companies won’t sacrifice that opportunity. I can’t imagine trying to raise a child with healthy eating habits in the world they’re in with media slamming them left and right to eat “this” or “that” with brightly colored packages and cartoon characters to add the “trust” element. Something MUST change.
Bettina Elias Siegel says
I know, Georgianna! The Smart Snacks rules are a big improvement, to be sure, especially when you compare it to the free-for-all that was going on before their implementation. But that whole grain standard in particular lets in a huge amount of “better for you” junk food that does little for kids nutritionally and which only inculcates or perpetuates a junk food habit.
Martha says
Again well said. I applaud your efforts and only wish that progress could be made. I’ve been in School Food Service for 35 years and have NEVER allowed marketing to play a role in the foods I serve. I am currently having discussions with TRUMOO because of the POWERCOWS on the sides of the milk cartons. Not only does is slow the line down a great deal with elementary students trying to get the same cow as the person before them. BUT who needs an overweight cow named Sumoo, in the same milk crate as a racing cow named Zoomooo. My bid for next year is requesting no advertizing on my cartons….
Again thanks for all that you do.