Fast Food & Sports Stars Don’t Mix

In this opinion piece, Good Mood Dudes founder Dr. Nicholas Chartres provides his view on this article: GP-turned-MP to demand action on junk food advertising

 

Kids love sports stars.

They buy the shoes and clothes they wear, the cricket bats they use and the sports drinks they drink.

Therefore, a new bill to stop junk food sponsorship of children’s sport and ads shown during prime-time television like 20/20 cricket, when kids are watching with their families, is a welcome move to help reduce the number of overweight and obese Australian children.

We know from the success of smoking cessation rates globally that advertising, especially via mass media, is one of the most pervasive ways that companies can increase sales and consumption of their harmful products. If we cut advertising, we cut consumption and we can cut the resulting rates of disease that are caused by these harmful products.

Although advertisements for unhealthy foods and drinks are banned during broadcasts of television programs made for pre-schoolers, the average 5-8 old is still being exposed to more than 800 junk food television ads a year. Currently, the federal government has allowed the food industry to govern itself through a self-regulatory code, with junk food companies arguing that they are not advertising to children by sponsoring their sports because they only use their brand names and not pictures of their products.

However, the food industry knows that kids look up to sports stars and they still have a significant opportunity to get our kids hooked on their ultra-processed foods. If Australian men’s cricket captain Pat Cummins can eat KFC and still be one of the best athletes in the world, why wouldn’t an 8-year-old think that he can do the same?

It’s time to get serious and properly protect our children by banning all junk food advertising from sport.

 

Dr Nicholas Chartres is the Director of Science & Policy at the University of California, San Francisco working with the Program of Reproductive Health and the Environment. His work focuses on US federal chemical policy and regulation.

Nick received his PhD from The University of Sydney, where his thesis examined ways to reduce bias in public health guidelines, including the primary studies that are used in our national Dietary Guidelines. Nick also has a Masters in Nutrition.