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Food Manufacturers Issue Guidance for School-Based Advertising of Junk Food
The Children’s Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative, an industry-funded self-regulatory group, has recently issued a fact sheet of principles to guide companies in their advertising efforts to schools, the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) Newsroom reports. The initiative, which includes Burger King, McDonalds, Coca-Cola, General Mills, Hersey Company, Campbell Soup Company and other major food manufacturers, is supported by the industry and administered under the Council of Better Business. The Fact Sheet on the Elementary School Advertising Principles states that member companies “agree that they will not advertise any food or beverage in elementary schools,” and specifically identifies coupons, food samples, posters and book covers as forms of barred advertising. However, the document endorses several other advertising strategies, including “marketing on vending machine exteriors, label-collection programs, branded display racks, tray liners that promote foods sold in schools and menu boards.” The guidelines, which do not apply to after-school activities, also allow food companies to sponsor curricula, educational materials and public service announcements; use characters as spokespeople, such as Ronald McDonald, for promotional purposes; and permit the sale of low-nutrition foods for fundraisers. CSPI expressed concern that the fact sheet applies only to elementary schools and calls for the recommendations to extend to include middle schools. Meanwhile, a bill recently introduced in Congress would require the U.S. Department of Education to work with the Division of Adolescent and School Health at the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to thoroughly assess school-based food marketing. The legislation is supported by the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Diabetes Association, the American Heart Association, the Trust for America’s Health, the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood and several other national and state health groups (CSPI Newsroom, 9/22/09). (Editor’s note: The Trust for America’s Health is an RWJF grantee.)