U.S. Food Companies May Reduce Junk Food TV Ads

NEW YORK, November 15:
Top U.S. food manufacturers and advertisers have proposed guidelines to control
the promotion of junk food to children through a voluntary tightening of
standards and new requirements on advertising to kids on television and in
video games.

Ten of the largest food
manufacturers have backed the plan. They are: the U.S. unit of Cadbury
Schweppes, Campbell Soup Co., Coca-Cola Co., General Mills, Hershey, Kellogg,
Kraft Foods, McDonald's, PepsiCo, and Unilever Group, according to Reuters.

These companies are said
to control more than two thirds of all spending on television advertising for
children's food and beverages. The plan is supported by the Council for Better
Business Bureaus, which represents 129 local trade groups that advocate ethical
advertising and business practices.

U.S. regulators—worried
by an upsurge in childhood obesity and diabetes—have long advocated that
food companies voluntarily curtail their advertising of sugary snacks, soft
drinks and other junk food to kids. Under the new plan, the food companies
would devote at least half of their advertising directed to kids to promote a
healthy diet and good nutrition.

The plan was criticized
as inadequate by the nonprofit Center for Science in the Public Interest, which
pointed out that the proposed guidelines do not address the issue of the
ingredients in the junk food that can be advertised.