The CFC and BHF are calling for consistent advertising regulations across all forms of media to protect children and their future health.
All the brands featured in the report are products that are high in fat, salt or sugar. Advertisements for these products can’t be shown during children’s television programmes, because they fail the Food Standards Agency and Ofcom nutrient profiling test. Yet, due to a loophole in advertising regulations, companies are allowed to market these products and brands freely via the internet.
According to the report, the key online tactics of food manufacturers include:
CFC director Kawther Hashem accused the food companies of “shamelessly misleading” consumers by telling “half truths” and “made-up, so-called facts” in advertising and marketing claims.
Topping the list is Chupa Chups, which was considered to have run the most misleading marketing message of 2011 with 390 votes. An animation on the Chupa Chups website implied that its yellow lollipops were made from only real lemon juice, when the juice content of the product is just 3%.
Coca-Cola’s enhanced water brand Glacéau came under fire for a claim that its range offers ‘spring water with fruit juice’. CFC argued this is misleading because only three of eight Glacéau products ‘contain any form of fruit’, and that those three use concentrate and not fresh juice.
Coca-Cola received 142 votes backing the claim as misleading.
According to a report in The Guardian, a spokeswoman for Coca-Cola said: “We have reviewed our brands section on our UK website and can confirm that one reference relating to fruit juice and Glacéau Vitamin Water is an incorrect description of the brand’s ingredients. We acknowledge our error and have removed this reference from our website with immediate effect.”
The second most misleading claim of the year fell to the British Soft Drinks Association, with 180 votes in the survey. The BSDA said in an online educational pack for children that ‘variations in climate and sunshine levels’ can affect a crop sugar may be needed to ‘achieve desired sweetness’.
The CFC argued that this is misleading because many drinks contain a lot of sugar, which has nothing to do with climate or sunshine levels.
Jill Ardagh, director general of the BSDA, said that the CFC is misleadingly ‘misrepresenting’ its material suggesting that a claim which applies specifically to fruit juice drinks is for all beverages.
“The Children’s Food Campaign is misrepresenting information in our educational material which relates only to fruit juice,” she said. “Under the law, only a tiny amount of sugar may be added to fruit juice … in order to take account of natural variations in sweetness. The CFC should be clear about its facts before it accuses others of making erroneous claims.”
In February 2010, Unesda, the Union of European Beverages Associations, introduced new guidelines to ensure companies and brands act responsibly in their digital marketing communications.
The new guidelines extended into the digital sphere the commitments made by the industry in January 2006, to not directly target children under the age of 12 in its advertising on TV, radio, in print or online, and to not offer products for sale in primary schools across the EU27.
Source: Children’s Food Campaign/British Heart Foundation/The Guardian
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