WHO recommends mandatory regulation of junk food marketing to protect children from HFSS products

04 Jul 2023 --- The World Health Organization (WHO) has released new guidance recommending countries implement comprehensive mandatory policies to protect children of all ages from the marketing of foods and non-alcoholic beverages that are high in saturated fatty acids, trans-fatty acids, free sugars and/or salt (HFSS).

“Aggressive and pervasive marketing of HFSS foods and beverages is responsible for unhealthy dietary choices,” flags Dr. Francesco Branca, director of the Department of Nutrition and Food Safety of WHO.

“Calls to responsible marketing practices have not had a meaningful impact. Governments should establish strong and comprehensive regulations.”

Food marketing is also increasingly recognized as a children’s rights concern, given its negative impact on several of the rights enshrined in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.

More than a decade after member states endorsed WHO’s recommendations on marketing foods and non-alcoholic beverages to children in 2010, children continue to be exposed to powerful marketing of HFSS foods and non-alcoholic beverages, consumption of which is associated with negative health implications, such as obesity, tooth decay and diabetes.

WHO recommends restricting the marketing of food, which involves limiting the use of cartoons or techniques that appeal to children.Norms about food consumption 
The latest recommendations are based on the findings of recent evidence reviews, including how exposure to and the power of food marketing affects children’s health, eating behaviors and food-related attitudes and beliefs.

Notably, food marketing is being slated as a threat to public health as it continues to negatively affect children’s food choices, intended choices and dietary intake. 

It can also negatively influence the development of children’s norms about food consumption, warns WHO.

The recommendation is also based on a systematic review of the evidence on policies restricting food marketing, including contextual factors. 

Policies to restrict food marketing are shown to be most effective if they: are mandatory; protect children of all ages; use a government-led nutrient profile model to classify foods to be restricted from marketing; and are sufficiently comprehensive to minimize the risk of migration of marketing to other age groups, other spaces within the same medium or to other media, including digital spaces.

“Restricting the power of food marketing to persuade” is also impactful, which involves limiting the use of cartoons or techniques that appeal to children, such as including toys with products, advertising with songs and celebrity endorsements.

WHO now recommends mandatory regulation of the marketing of HFSS foods and non-alcoholic beverages, having previously made more allowances for various policy approaches. 

Another change is the guideline’s use of the definition of a child from the Convention on the Rights of the Child to be unequivocal that policies should protect all children. 

Two other updates are recommendations for countries to use a nutrient profile model, which governments lead the development of, and adopting policies comprehensive enough to minimize intra- and inter-medium migration to avoid restrictions on marketing in regulated channels or settings.

Adoption and adaptation needed
Policy decisions based on this guideline should be adapted to the local contexts of WHO regions and member states. 

Adoption of the recommendation and adaptation to country contexts require local consultations, with mechanisms in place to safeguard public health policy-making from undue influence by actual, perceived or potential conflicts of interest.

Policies to protect children from the harmful impact of food marketing are best implemented as part of a comprehensive policy approach to create enabling and supportive food environments. 

Consequently, this guideline is part of a suite of forthcoming guidelines on food environment policies. These guidelines aim to support governments in creating healthy food environments to facilitate healthy dietary decisions, establish lifelong healthy eating habits, improve dietary quality and decrease the risk of noncommunicable diseases worldwide.

Guidelines on other policies to improve the food environment are currently under development. Children are exposed to powerful food marketing, which promotes foods high in saturated fatty acids, free sugars and/or sodium.

Delayed initiatives in UK
This latest announcement comes at the heels of the UK government having postponed the two-for-one ban on junk food until 2025 in England. 

The key component of the anti-obesity strategy was initially planned for this October but has been deferred by two years while the cost of living crisis continues to bite. UK prime minister Rishi Sunak says restricting options on cheaper grocery deals would be unfair to the public as food inflation remains high. 

Public health organizations have reacted to the postponed ban with some dismay, mainly as this is not the first time the UK government has held off actions to tackle the epidemic of obesity.

It has previously been accused of bowing to the food industry when postponing the ban on junk food advertisements after 9 PM on TV and online for another three years.

Edited by Elizabeth Green