Healthy eating research team shares responsible food marketing guidelines infographic

Wednesday Nourishing Graphics:  

We are happy to share this infographic that further tells the story about the nourishing value of ….

Last week, I spoke about food marketing to adults and how the grocery store has really perfected this science.  I have also talked in the past about food marketing to children.

But the Robert Woods Foundation has released these marketing to children guidelines on how to be a responsible food marketer.  We know that food marketing to kids will not disappear (even if it should).  It will be a huge undertaking to try and ban that type of advertising and we can see that there are so many loopholes too.

We also learned that it is not so straightforward.  These companies are allowed to advertise to teens and adults without meeting nutrition standards.  Defining the scope of how to determine if a food ad is actually targeting children had to be examined.  It turned out that the definition they started with actually was not protecting children.  By widening the scope to include 14 year olds, they were able to capture the majority of ads targeting children.  Once an ad is deemed to target children, it must meet a nutrition criteria.  If they are meeting this last standard is a discussion for another blog.  So stay tuned on this one.

So, for now, the best thing that we can do is keep pressure and I mean public pressure on what they are doing.  Setting responsible guidelines and then highlighting those companies that are meeting those guidelines and those companies that are not will certainly help keep them in check.

Ultimately, it is you and I who determine what foods we buy and bring into the home.  It is we, the parents, who have to decide what foods go into their lunchbox.  So we have to also be part of the solution by teaching children and helping them learn what is healthy foods and what is food that does not nourish our bodies.  We need to be the strongest food advertisement they see each day.