Indian companies pledge to reduce under-12 child obesity
For the first time in Indian advertising history, companies like Kellogs, Coca-Cola, Hindustan Unilever and PepsiCo have undertaken a pledge to stop ad campaigns for nutritionally deficient foods targeting children under the age group of 12, reported The Economic Times on April 11, 2009.
Obesity levels in pre-teens are on the rise, with the Asian average predicted to triple from 1.5 to 5.3 percent by 2010, according to a study by the International Journal of Pediatric Obesity. North and South America currently lead the charts with 15 children out of every 100 in each country suffering from obesity.
Child obesity in Asia is expected to triple by 2010
To read the full article, click here: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/rssarticleshow/4387665.cms?flstry=1
Though no formal law has been put in place, Indian companies have followed suit after the European Union Pledge in 2007, during which 11 companies who form the majority of the Food and Beverage sector voluntarily decided to regulate their multimedia advertisements as well as sale of junk food to primary schools.
If you didn’t think companies single-mindedly and ferociously target pre-teens, you’ll be surprised to hear Marion Nestle, professor of nutrition, food studies, and public health at New York University, tell you that Kellogs spent 32.8 million dollars to advertise the yummy-but-fattening Cheese Its to children.
To hear her talk about the prevalent practice of advertising campaigns directed at children, click here:
In the Indian scenario, ads for products including Maggi noodles, soft drinks, potato wafers and ice-cream will now feature the whole family or only adults instead of only pre-teens.
Child obesity in the subcontinent has bloomed as a result of unhealthy diet and lack of physical activity. When houses in residential colonies and single apartment floors are now converted into kindergarten and junior schools, I can personally vouch for the lack of play area for growing kids.
By packing kids hip-to-bum into small spaces and encouraging video gaming and TV-watching, proprietors of such “schools” have controlled noise pollution and decreased their rents simultaneously. As a rather large side effect, we now have obese children who’d rather sprawl on a couch glugging down Coke than slide down a Play Pen.
As for overseas, spending over five years in the US, I can confidently say that cheap food equals junk food. Spending a dollar for a hamburger at the local Mc D is much more affordable than buying a packet of sliced carrot from your neighborhood grocery store at $1.99.
Take a poll and tell me who or what you think is to blame. After all, what else can you do?
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