Lidl and Iceland become first retailers to have ads banned under new junk food rules
Lidl and Iceland have become the first retailers to have advertisements banned under the UK’s new rules restricting the promotion of junk food.
The Advertising Standards Authority said ads from the two supermarkets breached regulations introduced on 5 January, which ban HFSS products (foods high in fat, salt and sugar) from being advertised on TV before 9pm and in paid-for online advertising at any time.
Under the regulations, confectionery products such as sweets and chocolates automatically fail the government’s nutrient profiling model and are classed as less healthy, meaning they cannot be promoted through paid online advertising.
Lidl and Iceland have become the first retailers to have advertisements banned under the UK’s new rules restricting the promotion of junk food.
The Advertising Standards Authority said ads from the two supermarkets breached regulations introduced on 5 January, which ban HFSS products (foods high in fat, salt and sugar) from being advertised on TV before 9pm and in paid-for online advertising at any time.
Under the regulations, confectionery products such as sweets and chocolates automatically fail the government’s nutrient profiling model and are classed as less healthy, meaning they cannot be promoted through paid online advertising.
Admittedly supermarkets do sell what Mrs H and I see as junk food, but we wouldn't ban supermarkets from advertising it even if we could.
The interesting aspect is the government’s nutrient profiling model which has been around for a while. Interesting because it's yet another example of the mind-boggling depths to which government micro-management has descended.
The current version is Nutrient profiling model 2004 to 2005 which gives this brief outline of how it works -
The Nutrient Profiling Model
The nutrient profiling model was developed by the Food Standards Agency (FSA) in 2004
2005 to provide Ofcom, the broadcast regulator, with a tool to differentiate of foods on the
basis of their nutritional composition, in the context of television advertising foods to children.
The model uses a simple scoring system where points are allocated on the basis of the
nutrient content of 100g of a food or drink. Points are awarded for ‘A’ nutrients (energy,
saturated fat, total sugar and sodium), and for ‘C’ nutrients (fruit, vegetables and nut content,
fibre and protein). The score for ‘C’ nutrients is then subtracted from the score for ‘A’ nutrients
to give the final nutrient profile score.
Foods scoring 4 or more points, and drinks scoring 1 or more points, are classified as ‘less
healthy’ and are subject to Ofcom’s controls on the advertising of foods to children on TV.
3 comments:
Does my head in, all that subtracting, points giving etc. What about toasted teacake and butter?
When I was at school we each got a "free" bottle of milk in the morning - one third of a pint. I remember that there was a year when strawberry flavour was available - Lord knows why, maybe somebody thought it would encourage us all to drink up. I also remember the point in winter when the farmers ran short of hay or silage and started the beasts on neeps: you could taste them in the milk.
Mind you, in my father's time he got a choice - from about age 13 onwards - of milk or "small beer". Them wuz the days.
James - toasted teacake and butter is fine, although a piece of Wensleydale cheese would round it off.
dearieme - I remember the milk in little one third of a pint bottles, but I don't remember any flavouring such as strawberry. Offering "small beer" to school children sounds Dickensian these days, but I know some of my school friends would have opted for it.
Post a Comment