In a bid to protect children from the detrimental impact of food marketing, the World Health Organization (WHO) has unveiled a set of new guidelines. These guidelines recommend that countries establish comprehensive mandatory policies to shield children of all ages from the marketing of foods and non-alcoholic beverages high in saturated fatty acids, trans-fatty acids, free sugars, and salt (HFSS).

Source: TEDx Talks/YouTube

Despite the endorsement of WHO’s recommendations on food marketing to children by Member States over a decade ago in 2010, children are still exposed to influential marketing campaigns promoting HFSS products. The consumption of these foods and beverages has been linked to adverse health outcomes.

The updated guideline is based on a thorough review of recent evidence, examining the influence of food marketing on children’s health, eating behaviors, and attitudes toward food. It emphasizes that food marketing remains a significant threat to public health, affecting children’s food choices, intended choices, and dietary intake, and shaping their norms related to food consumption.

The recommendation is also informed by a systematic review of evidence on policies aimed at restricting food marketing, including contextual factors. The review highlights that the most effective policies are those that are mandatory and cover children of all ages. These policies should utilize a government-led nutrient profile model to classify foods that should be restricted from marketing. Additionally, the guidelines emphasize the importance of comprehensive policies that minimize the risk of marketing shifting to other age groups, spaces within the same medium, or to other media, including digital platforms. Restricting the persuasive power of food marketing, such as the use of cartoons, promotional toys, advertising with songs, and celebrity endorsements that appeal to children, is also deemed impactful.

Based on this evidence, WHO now recommends the mandatory regulation of marketing HFSS foods and non-alcoholic beverages, moving away from previously allowing for a range of policy approaches. The updated guideline also adopts the Convention on the Rights of the Child’s definition of a child to emphasize the need for policies that protect all children unequivocally. Furthermore, it suggests the use of a government-led nutrient profile model and comprehensive policies to prevent marketing restrictions from being circumvented across different media or age groups.

It is important to adapt policy decisions based on these guidelines to the local contexts of WHO regions and Member States. The adoption and adaptation of the recommendation should involve local consultations, with safeguards in place to ensure that public health policy-making remains free from undue influence or conflicts of interest.

The guidelines emphasize that policies to protect children from harmful food marketing are most effective when implemented as part of a comprehensive approach to creating supportive and enabling food environments. As such, this guideline is part of a series of forthcoming guidelines on food environment policies. Together, these guidelines aim to Support governments in creating healthy food environments that foster healthy dietary decisions, establish lifelong healthy eating habits, improve dietary quality, and reduce the risk of noncommunicable diseases globally.

Sign this petition to demand transparent food marking.

Related Content:

• How to Reduce Your Exposure to ‘Forever’ Chemicals in Food
• Food Label Claims: Helpful Health Info… or Pure Marketing?
• Fresh vs. Frozen Foods: What is Healthier?
• Greenwashing in the Food Sector: What You Need to Know
• Mexico State of Oaxaca Bans Junk Food Sales to Children

Easy Ways to Help the Planet:

• Eat Less Meat: Download Food Monster, the largest plant-based Recipe app on the App Store, to help reduce your environmental footprint, save animals and get healthy. You can also buy a hard or soft copy of our favorite vegan cookbooks.
• Reduce Your Fast Fashion Footprint: Take initiative by standing up against fast fashion Pollution and supporting sustainable and circular brands like Tiny Rescue that raise awareness around important issues through recycled zero-waste clothing designed to be returned and remade over and over again.
• Support Independent Media: Being publicly funded gives us a greater chance to continue providing you with high-quality content. Please consider supporting us by donating!
• Sign a Petition: Your voice matters! Help turn petitions into victories by signing the latest list of must-sign petitions to help people, animals, and the planet.
• Stay Informed: Keep up with the latest news and essential stories involving animals, the environment, sustainable living, food, health, and human interest topics by subscribing to our newsletter!
• Do What You Can: Reduce waste, plant trees, eat local, travel responsibly, reuse stuff, say no to single-use plastics, recycle, vote smart, switch to cold water laundry, divest from fossil fuels, save water, shop wisely, Donate if you can, grow your food, volunteer, conserve energy, compost, and don’t forget about the microplastics and microbeads lurking in common household and personal care products!