Junkfoodgenerationtoolkit[english]

: n io t a r e n e G d o Junk Fo s n ig a p m a c l a n A toolkit for natio

This guide This guide provides information, ideas and resources to campaign at a national level on food marketing to children. It aims to provide you with the tools you need to run an effective campaign, targeting government as well as engaging the public and the media. It builds on Consumers International’s experience and that of CI members that have been involved in similar campaigns.

Consumers International (CI) is the only independent global campaigning voice for consumers. With over 220 member organisations in 115 countries, we are building a powerful international consumer movement to help protect and empower consumers everywhere.

Consumers International is a not-for-profit company limited by guarantee in the UK (company number 4337865) and a registered charity (number 1122155).

For more information, visit: www.consumersinternational.org

ISBN 978-0-9566117-9-6

Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Licence http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0 Cover image: ‘Burger man’, courtesy of I.D.E.A.S/Choice

: n io t a r e n e G d o o F k n Ju ns ig a p m a c l a n io t a n r fo A toolkit Contents 02 Junk food marketing

> Obesity and unhealthy food marketing > Global policy developments to date

10 Launch your campaign

> Ideas for campaign actions > Organise an event > Engaging the media

04 Time for national action

04 Identify your allies

• Target your efforts

• Make it newsworthy

• Writing a press release

05 What opportunities are arising?

05 Gather evidence

> Lobbying the government

Team Dalog

examples of the marketing > Fof indunhealthy food to children

• Who should you lobby?

• Writing a letter

> > Conduct your own survey

• Pre-empt the response

• Lobby meetings

Use the Traffic Light Guide

15 What next?

15 Further information sources

A toolkit for national campaigns | 01

vi

pe

Junk food marketing

z

Obesity and unhealthy food marketing The marketing of energy-dense, nutrient-poor food high in fat, sugar and salt 1 is a contributory factor in the international rise of obesity and overweight 2 and to poor diets in general. Marketing influences choices and, when it targets children, it has a strong impact on their perception of different foods. Young children in particular may struggle to differentiate between marketing and non-marketing.

Teenagers are also particularly susceptible to marketing and are at an age when they are developing their own views as to what constitutes an appropriate diet.

Marketing of ‘unhealthy’ food can also undermine the efforts of public authorities, parents and carers to encourage healthy eating. Children are the target audience for a wide variety of sophisticated campaigns that cover all marketing mediums. The food products that are marketed to children have been found to be overwhelmingly energydense foods and drinks high in fat, sugar and salt3.

1 In this guide we have simply referred to energy-dense nutrient-poor foods high in fat, sugar and salt as ‘unhealthy’ foods.

2 World Health Organization (WHO) fact sheet on obesity and overweight http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs311/en/ 3 Hastings et al, The extent, nature and effects of food promotion to children: A review of the evidence to 2008, World Health Organization, 2008. http://www.who.int/dietphysicalactivity/Evidence_Update_2009.pdf

02 | Junk Food Generation

trient-poor energy-dense, nu of g tin ke ar m e Th contributory gar and salt is a food high in fat, su esity and national rise of ob factor in the inter ral. ne ge to poor diets in overweight and

Global policy developments to date 2004

2008

Looking ahead to 2011

The WHO launched a global strategy to tackle chronic non-communicable diseases.

This explicitly identifies health problems caused by excess consumption of fat, sugar and salt, along with insufficient intake of fruit, vegetables, pulses and wholegrain cereals.

World Consumer Rights Day - Consumers International, working with the International Obesity Task Force (IOTF), published its own Recommendations for an International Code on Marketing of Foods and NonAlcoholic Beverages to Children. The code called for:

CI has embarked on an exciting new project to develop a manual to support governments and civil society in monitoring the marketing of food to children. The manual will present practical options for governments and other organisations wishing to conduct surveys, to monitor the volume and nature of marketing, and identify new trends. The manual is due for publication in late 2011.

focused on unhealthy food, such as food high > Rinegulation fat, sugar and/or salt

> Equal protection for all children, younger and older of marketing, advertising and promotions > Atoll betypes included.

2007

May 2010

The World Health Assembly (WHA) passed a resolution calling on the WHO to develop a set of recommendations on marketing of food to children in consultation with member states, the private sector and civil society.

A set of WHO recommendations were agreed at the 63rd World Health Assembly in Geneva. The recommendations identify the role that member states, in consultation with other stakeholders, should play in regulating marketing of food to children.

A toolkit for national campaigns | 03

n io t c a l a n io t a n r fo e Tim Identify your allies National action is now needed to build on the successes of the last few years to help protect children everywhere from the effects of marketing of unhealthy food. National organisations can carry forward the momentum of this global campaign by:

ighlighting the publication of the WHO > Hrecommendations and the CI code on marketing. national examples of marketing > Fofinding unhealthy food to children. national governments to commit > Ltoobbying action on the marketing of unhealthy foods to children. aising media and public awareness of the > Rimpact of marketing unhealthy food on children’s diets.

ild on now needed to bu National action is to help s ar ye w fe the last the successes of the effects of everywhere from protect children althy food. marketing of unhe

04 | Junk Food Generation

re your anisations that might sha Are there groups or org to ds foo ting of unhealthy concerns over the marke your join to nt wa y and ask if the children? Contact them to ers lett g nin -sig co m ge fro campaign. This could ran ng byi lob t nts or planning join co-hosting campaign eve ht mig you s ion ups or organisat meetings. Types of gro approach include: in nutrition, igners with an interest Public health campa tes g, heart disease, diabe for instance breastfeedin or cancer. ts. paigned on children’s righ G roups that have cam t may be concerned abou H ealth workers who icians. iatr ed pa and ans tici childhood obesity - die ing online communities.

P arents groups, includ unions. instance education trade Teachers groups, for rson who al celebrity or sports pe M aybe there is a loc n who unhealthy food to childre is against marketing of ? might join your campaign

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> >

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g in is r a e r a s ie it n u t r o p What op Keep your eye on the calendar. Tying your campaign to national events can help to raise its profile. Are there elections coming up? You could contact the candidates and call for pledges on the issue of food marketing to children. Is there an appropriate national event or day that falls at the right time, or a relevant government conference or high profile meeting? See page 13 for more on press releases.

Gather evidence

Before you get started, do some research to find out more about the marketing of unhealthy food to children in your country. This will help you when planning your campaign action. Try and find some facts and figures on children’s diets or on childhood obesity in your country. You may be able to get some statistics from the International Association for the Study of Obesity: www.iaso.org or from the WHO web pages on childhood obesity: www.who.int. You should also look for figures on how much is spent on advertising. You can get some individual country information from the Advertising Age website’s section on Global Marketers: www.adage.com.

Find examples of the marketing of unhealthy food to children The CI International Code on Marketing of Foods and Non-Alcoholic Beverages defines ‘children’ as people under the age of 16 or the age set by national government legislation if it is lower than 16.

By ‘unhealthy’ foods, we refer to energydense, nutrient-poor foods high in fat, sugar and salt. CI has called on the WHO to propose an international approach to the categorisation of energy-dense, nutrientpoor foods high in fat, salt or sugar.4 The UK Food Standards Agency (FSA) developed a comprehensive nutrient profiling model for the purpose of determining which food and drink products could be determined as ‘less healthy’ and thus, subject to marketing restrictions. To see a guide to how this code works visit www.food.gov.uk.

4 Consumers International & International Obesity Taskforce, Recommendations for an International Code on Marketing of Foods and Non-Alcoholic Beverages to Children, 15 March 2008, www.consumersinternational.org/food/code

A toolkit for national campaigns | 05

Use the Traffic Light Guide

You can use the very easy guide5 (right) to identify foods likely to fall into the ‘less healthy’ category. It was also designed by the FSA, but for their proposed front of pack ‘traffic lights’ labelling scheme. Items that fall into the high or red category can be seen to be unhealthy: Alternatively, if you don’t have the resources to purchase the products advertised and/or nutrition information is not available on product packaging or on company websites in your country, make a note of what category the product advertised falls into.

According to World Health Organization research, the categories below are commonly found to include foods high in fat, saturated fat, salt or sugar: 6

> Children’s breakfast cereals > Soft drinks > Confectionery > Crisps and other savoury snacks > Fast food meals

Guide to nutrient levels in your food Nutrient

High

Medium

Low

Sugars

Over 15g

Between 5g and 15g

5g and below

Fat

Over 20g

Between 3g and 20g

3g and below

Saturates

Over 5g

Between 1.5g and 5g

1.5g and below

Between 0.3g and 1.5g

0.3g and below

(per 100g)

(per 100g)

(per 100g)

Salt

(per 100g)

Guide to nutrient levels in drinks Nutrient

High

Medium

Low

Sugars

Over 6.3g

Between 2.5g and 6.3g

2.5g and below

Fat

Over 10g

Between 1.5 and 10g

1.5g and below

Saturates

Over 2.5g

Between 0.75g and 2.5g

0.75g and below

Salt

Over 1.5g

Between 0.3g and 1.5g

0.3g and below

(per 100ml)

(per 100ml)

(per 100ml)

(per 100ml)

5 Food Standards Agency, Front of Pack Traffic Light Signpost Labelling Technical Guidance, November 2007, www.food.gov.uk/multimedia/pdfs/ frontofpackguidance2.pdf 6 Hastings G. The extent, nature and effects of food promotion to children: a review of the evidence to December 2008, www.who.int/dietphysicalactivity/Evidence_Update_2009.pdf

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Over 1.5g

Some of the marketing techniques used to target children:

es Where to find exampl of marketing

n in of marketing to childre You can find examples . dia me and in new more traditional media

> C ompetitions, promotions and games > T oys and giveaways > C lubs to join > U se of celebrities, sports stars or cartoon

Traditional media:

> T V > Radio newspapers rint including magazines, > P and billboards r New media and othe marketing tools: P roduct packaging Interactive websites

> > t channels > View-on-demand interne > S MS messaging > School materials machines in places where > B chiranldredendgaventhedinr g roduct placement in > Pfilm s and television

>

programmes Sponsorship schemes

characters popular with children

is ur own survey Conducting yo ay w e iv ct st-effe an easy and co ake atistics to m st ng ti ra ne of ge of e e into mor a press releas a ‘story’.

> U se of bright colours, images or music likely >

to appeal to children

Product design, for instance food s that can

be played with

> P oint of sale positioning, for instance placing sweets at the checkout in shops

Conduct your own survey If you have the time and resources, you may wish to take a more systematic approach and conduct a survey. Conducting your own survey is an easy and cost-effective way of generating statistics to make a press release into more of a ‘story’. Press releases are a lot more likely to be picked up by journalists if you make them newsworthy. Be warned however, any facts and figures that you provide have to be absolutely and irrefutably correct. If you provide false information to the press, you not only run the risk of being sued by any companies or organisations you have referred to, but you will lose credibility with journalists and damage your ability to generate press coverage in the future. Check, check and check again!

A toolkit for national campaigns | 07

Image © crazy-frankenstein.com

Step 1: Collect your data

Select what type of survey you want to carry out according to what type of food advertising you think children in your country are most exposed to. Collect as much data as you possibly can, and be systematic. Seeing one or two adverts for potato chips while you are at home one evening does not constitute a story.

TV survey

>

as of children’s television W atch as many hours a ke ma and ) urs ho five you can (a minimum of oose Ch . see you nts me note of all the advertise to be most children are likely times of day when the ek we on l oo sch er just aft watching, for example, or times s, nd eke we on g rnin days or early in the mo peal ly to be of particular ap when programmes like ns. too car ce tan ins wn, for to children are being sho nd on nels you watch will depe Which channel/chan what is shown locally. lar/ els that are most popu D o look at the chann of lots are tance, if there widely available. For ins five the of h eac ur one ho channels, try and watch most popular. el time on just one chann Don’t focus all your want n’t do u Yo le). ilab e ava (unless there is only on nnel. cha r g on one particula to be accused of pickin ct nt you see, note the exa F or each advertiseme ny ma w Ho d. tise ver product that is being ad ? food and drink products advertisements are for

>

>

Magazine survey

Purchase as many children’s print publications as you can, such as magazine or comic books, and note how many advertisements there are, how many are for food and drink products and exactly which food and drink products are being advertised. Keep the publications afterwards.

Billboard survey

This will require more legwork, so you may need some help. It would be a great activity to do if you have formed an alliance with a parents or teachers group. Survey the streets surrounding as many schools as possible - 10 at the very least. Try to cover a uniform radius, say 100 metres from the school gates. Count the advertisements you see and note down what products are being advertised.

Image © www.epamedia.at

>

>

© Kelloggs

08 | Junk Food Generation

Step 2: Analyse your data

Internet survey

You will need access to some children. Maybe a local school can help you. Ask a group of children who regularly use the internet to name their favourite websites. When you have a list of the most popular websites, visit them yourself and note what kind of advertising you see.

What types of food and drink prod ucts are being advertised? Are the advertisemen ts for ‘unhealthy’ food and drink products? If you are goin g to describe the products as ‘unhealthy,’ you need some basis by which to do so.

> I f you have the resources to purchase the products

advertised, and you live in a country where nutrition information (ie nutrient values per 100g) is listed on the label, you can measure each prod uct against the criteria shown on page 06. Make sure you keep the packaging afterwards.

Packaging survey

> S ometimes this information is available on company

amous characters (real or animated) > fthat are well known to children

OR

Go to a supermarket and buy as many products as you can that are packaged in order to increase their appeal to children.

Find examples of packaging that include:

of bright colours, images > uor sedesigns of particular appeal to children ree gifts, games or give> faway schemes that will

websites. If you use information from company websites, try and keep a printout or save a screen shot, as these figures frequently change.

How many of the advertisements shown are for prod ucts that could be categorised as high in fat, saturate d fat, salt or sugar?

> If you don’t have the resources to purchase the

products advertised and/or nutrition information is not available on product packaging or on company websites in your country, make a note of what category the product advertised falls into. See the categories listed on page 06.

appeal to children.

A toolkit for national campaigns | 09

n ig a p m a c r u o y h c n u La Ideas for campaign actions You will be best placed to decide what kind of action would be most appropriate to your local context. The action you choose will also obviously depend on the resources you have available. Use the evidence you have gathered to think about what kind of advertising is most likely to be seen by children in your country.

Is it through watching television, from looking at magazines, billboard or painted advertisements around schools, from product packaging or online?

Choose your action accordingly. wynlok

The following are a series of suggestions for campaigning actions. For more ideas, see the Consumers International website for details of the various campaigning actions undertaken by CI members for World Consumer Rights Day 2008 in order to draw attention to the issue of unhealthy food marketing aimed at children: www.consumersinternational.org/wcrd2008.

Please remember to tell CI about your campaign and send pictures if possible to campaigns@consint.org.

10 | Junk Food Generation

Publicity Stunts

generate good Do something that will press about the photographs and tell include: as ide me So it in advance.

Dress up

unhealthy food Dress up as an item of e the relevant tsid ou rs and hand out flie the office of the government building or rity. media regulatory autho

Deliver junk food wrappers to the minister for public health

Collect as many wrappers as you can from colleagues, friends and family and deliver them in person.

Take a journalist and photographer with you.

Martin Ujlaki

Once you have identified allies and opportunities and gathered evidence, you need to publicly launch your campaign. This should include a combination of lobbying, actions and media engagement.

tworking

Social media and ne

ing are g, multimedia and blogg Social media, networkin ience aud blic pu age a broad useful, cheap tools to eng ctive effe and ick qu a in ion e act and inspire people to tak can be uTu ebook, Twitter and Yo way. Tools such as Fac ssages me ign pa cam share simple provide useful forums to ways forums are often good and calls to action. These h as suc s and web-based action to promote online email ail actions: online petitions and em line sending out links to on Facebook is useful for ation as well rm info and s new of actions, short pieces group s. Use it to set up a new as campaign message ges ssa Me it. to rs rte po ruit sup in your country and rec on s nd sent out to your frie and actions can also be take part in an action to m the Facebook asking or event. d g and can be used to sen Twitter is similar to a blo s to link as ll we as s ges and new short campaign messa ers’ llow of 140 characters) to ‘fo actions (within the limit d. of a particular twitter fee

>

>

ouTube can be used > Yrele vant short films.

to post any

>> Go to the CI website and search for ‘Lunch box challenge’ for videos and guides to organising these events.

Organise an event In order to mark World Consumer Rights day in 2008, we encouraged CI members to organise a ‘Lunch box challenge.’ This is where a group of children are asked to choose between healthy food and foods that are high in fat, sugar and salt and are heavily promoted to children. It is an interesting event to invite the media and stakeholders to and will demonstrate the power of advertising to children.

If you didn’t hold a lunch box challenge in 2008 you might like to try now. You might like to try a ‘famous character quiz’ instead. Think about what is likely to be most effective. Remember to take photos and send them to CI.

Lunch box challenge Ten to twelve children are invited to pack their ‘ideal lunch box’ from a range of healthy and unhealthy foods. The children will be asked to select a certain number of products that represents a typical lunch box, including drink, snack and lunch. After the challenge, experts and media can ask children about their choices and comment on them.

A toolkit for national campaigns | 11

Famous characters event © Kelloggs

Using characters in advertising campaigns and on product packaging is a major tool for companies when marketing food and drink to children. Show a group of 10-12 children pictures of ten characters associated with food advertising and ten other famous people. See which group is more recognisable.

Engaging the media



ial if you want to raise This is absolutely essent public and put real awareness amongst the s. ker ma pressure on policy

Target your efforts

spapers, newsletters Look through local new y useful regular and magazines to identif tions that deal with features. Are there sec Cut out any relevant lth? parenting, food or hea is te of who the journalist articles and make a no al loc to ten Lis . contacts and add them to your to see where a story on es tim nt ere diff at io rad uld best fit. Find out if junk food marketing wo grammes. there are phone-in pro

 12 | Junk Food Generation

Make it newsworthy

You need to make your story topical and relevant.

Write a headline for your story and imagine whether you would want to read the story yourself if you were a member of the public.

Journalists are more likely to consider your story newsworthy if it includes a local event; research or statistics; local dignitaries or celebrities supporting a campaign; calls for people to take a specific action, or tying your story to an event or day.

If you are planning an event, make sure that it will provide good photo opportunities. A colourful event with lots of local people and/or a famous person will attract journalists and photographers. Take some photos yourself as well - these can be used to supply the press after the event or to put on your and/or the CI website. Do remember however, that in many countries you must get the permission of parents before you take pictures with children in.

 ☎

Writing a press release

Go to www.consumersinternational.org/jfg for a model press release. However, you will want to adapt whatever release you put out in order to make it relevant to your national context.

Here are some general tips about writing a press release:

> M ake it short: no longer than one A4 page if possible. et the message across in the first two paragraphs; include > Gwho, what, where, when and why. se statistics, especially national ones. All facts must > Ube accurate. ut a hard-hitting quote in where you firmly make your call > Pfor action. Journalists generally won’t change the quote,

though they may edit or discard parts of the release.

Quotes can be emotive whereas the rest of the release must be factual.

>

Q uotes are particularly appealing to journalists if you use someone relevant to the cause, perhaps a parent concerned about the effects of unhealthy food marketing on their child; a doctor/policy expert concerned for the general health of the population.

nclude a ‘Notes to editors’ section with > Icontact details for your spokesperson and

further information that the editor may need, such as a brief description of your organisation.

Lobbying the government

Who should you lobby?

The WHO recommendations call for governments to take the lead in policy-making, so your first point of contact should be the government department or ministry responsible for public health. Rem ember however, that, depending on how advertising and media is regulated in the national context, there may also be other bodies involved in the decision-making process such as media regulatory authorities or government watchdo gs. You may also wish to write to them. Always target the highest-level person.

Parliamentarians can also be key supporters. Contact MPs who might be sympathetic to the cause, perhaps target those that have children themselv es. Once engaged, they can ask questions in parliament, initia te parliamentary debates, table motions and lobby for legislation.

Writing a letter

Go to the CI website for a model lette r. Send your letter by email and in the post if possible and make sure you keep a copy. Always address your letter to the most senior person, for instance the minister or commiss ioner. If you have formed alliances with other groups, you could ask them if they would like to co-sign your lette r. Send a copy of your letter to a national newspaper.

Within your letter ask for a meeting to discuss the matter further. If there is no response to your letter, writ e again.

A toolkit for national campaigns | 13

Pre-empt the response

Think about the arguments your government might make for not committing to developing a policy on the marketing of junk food to children and try to come up with counterarguments in advance. This is where statistics and any other evidence particular to your national setting will be useful. For example: Government response: This is an issue for rich countries; it is not a priority here.

Answer: N o, obesity rates are rising in almost every country. In the past 20 years, rates of obesity have tripled in developing countries.7 Here . Food and drink companies have reached saturation point in Europe and the US and are now looking for new markets to sell es ur products. Advertising spending on food rises fig l ca lo insert every year. In 2008, global advertising spend e bl la ai av if was US$11.9 billion, an increase of 4.9% from 2007.

Taking action now to limit the impact of junk-food marketing on children’s diets will help to prevent rather than treat the problem of obesity and obesity-related diseases linked to poor diets, like diabetes, cardio-vascular disease and some cancers. In the long term, prevention is always cheaper.

7 Hossain, Kawar, El Nahas (2007) Obesity and diabetes in the Developing World – a Growing Challenge, The New England Journal of Medicine, Vol 356:213-215 No. 3 January 18 2007 http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/356/3/213

14 | Junk Food Generation

Lobby meetings

ent officials

eting with governm Should you secure a me : remember the following

Prepare thoroughly

er hand. It may be that oth Have all the evidence to ited inv be l wil ry, ust the food ind stakeholders, such as they do t tha im cla and try y ma to the meeting too. They ere the ir advertising. This is wh the in n ldre chi t ge tar t no le. ab alu inv llected will be examples you have co

ort

Show breadth of supp

nce possible, or bring evide Take along your allies if ures nat sig as h suc , red the e ga of the support you hav or pledges of support.

Follow up

of their to them reminding them After the meeting, write ask and eks we ee thr or er two promises. Follow up aft y have made. them what progress the

What next? ign

Evaluate your campa

d the Which tactics generate What was successful? and dia me the vernment, from best response from go ted res inte st mo is ent nm gover from the public? Who in to ere r? This will tell you wh in taking the issue furthe ure. fut the focus your efforts in

Discuss future plans

with your allies

Be reactive

Campaign resources to accompany this guide are available from the CI website at www.consumersinternational.org/jfg:

> Lunch-box challenge > Famous-characters event > Model letter to health minister > Model press release for survey results > Model press release for campaign event

xiaming

t steps. gs to discuss your nex Organise regular meetin and ees help from attend Secure commitments for g. etin me the follow up after

Further information sources

. Monitor st of any developments Continue to keep abrea there If ry. ust ind and the food your campaign targets on the ent tem sta blic pu nt or a is a policy announceme put and s r any press question topic, be ready to answe ly. out a press release quick

A toolkit for national campaigns | 15

ďƒź Websites

WHO pages on obesity and food marketing. A pdf of the recommendations can be downloaded here: http://bit.ly/hRLgvZ The International Obesity Taskforce: Get facts and figures on obesity and obesityrelated diseases around the world. http://bit.ly/dPTaMh Polmark: a European project examining policies on marketing of food and beverages to children in EU member states. http://bit.ly/eSFebY Food Standards Agency: A guide to using the UK’s nutrient profiling model http://bit.ly/e2Bkz5

16 | Junk Food Generation

These Q barco uick Respo des p nse (Q ro acces R) s to t vide direct h via sm e prin ted lin artph ks one.

Other Consumers International publications on the issue of marketing junk food to children: Recommendations for an international code on marketing of food and non-alcoholic beverages to children

The Junk Food Trap: marketing unhealthy food to children in Asia Pacific http://bit.ly/gnupo5

http://bit.ly/gpDjpp Fried and Tested: an examination of the marketing of fast food to children

The Junk Food Generation: a multi-country survey of the influence of television advertisements on children

http://bit.ly/h0JHbj

http://bit.ly/egjRKA

Left wanting more: food company policies on marketing to children http://bit.ly/hLOnwi New media, same old tricks: a survey of the marketing of food to children on food company websites http://bit.ly/htRoZW Cereal Offences: a wake-up call on the marketing of unhealthy food to children http://bit.ly/i6P2EF

A spoonful of sugar: television food advertising aimed at children http://bit.ly/e6CjgF You c an acc e public ations ss all of the se throu websit gh e smart . If you hav CI’s ph e just b one, you c a y scan an go t ning t barco he QR here des!

Consumers International 24 Highbury Crescent London N5 1RX, UK email: consint@consint.org www.consumersinternational.org twitter.com/consumers_int January 2011