Advertising Standards Canada (ASC) announced leading Canadian food and beverage companies are shifting the landscape of advertising directed to children under 12. Under the terms of the Canadian Children’s Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative (Children’s Advertising Initiative), first announced in April 2007, 16 leading food and beverage companies committed to shift their advertising directed to children under 12 to the promotion of healthier dietary choices and healthy active living.Through the Children’s Advertising Initiative, Participants will shift their advertising and marketing emphasis to foods and beverages that are consistent with the principles of sound nutrition guidance, including those that are lower in total calories, fats, salts and added sugars, and higher in nutrients that are significant to public health.
Watch one of the commercials launched on behalf of this campaign.
Core Principles
Under the Children’s Advertising Initiative, Participants have committed to:
- devote at least 50 per cent of their television, radio, print and Internet advertising directed primarily to children under 12 years of age to promote products that represent healthy dietary choices and/or to include healthy lifestyle messages,
- incorporate only products that represent healthy dietary choices or include healthy lifestyle messages in interactive games primarily directed to children under 12 years of age,
- reduce the use of third party licensed characters in advertising directed primarily to children under 12 that does not meet the Children’s Advertising Initiative criteria for healthy dietary products or healthy lifestyle messaging,
- not pay for or actively seek to place food and beverage products in program/editorial content of any medium primarily directed to children, and
- not advertise food or beverage products in elementary schools.
Charter Participants
• Cadbury Adams Canada Inc.
• Campbell Company of Canada
• Coca-Cola Canada
• General Mills Canada Corporation
• Hershey Canada Inc.
• Janes Family Foods Ltd.
• Kellogg Canada Inc.
• Kraft Canada Inc.
• Mars Canada Inc.
• McCain Foods Canada
• McDonald’s Restaurants of Canada Ltd.
• Nestlé Canada Inc.
• Parmalat Canada Inc.
• PepsiCo Canada
• Unilever Canada Inc.
• Weston Bakeries Limited
This is a very responsible initative that the comapnies are shifting towards. Because of the increased number of overwight children, this will help kids make healthier choices without the pressure of eating unhealthy junk food advertisements. I applaud the large and leading industry companies that are participating in this campaign because they are paving the way and setting an exmaple for other companies to follow suit.
Source: http://www.fcpmc.com/issues/hal/splash/index.html http://www.adstandards.com/en/childrensinitiative/default.asp
