'We must protect kids from junk food marketing'

The groups have urged the Committee of Advertising Practice to change its code of practice so that all children are not exposed junk food advertising. The letter signed by six organisations representing UK children's rights states: "We believe that all children and young people under the age of 16 have a right to be protected from unhealthy food marketing" and calls for amendments which remove the current loophole. Christine Haigh, coordinator of the Children's Food Campaign, which coordinated the letter, said: "Given the poor diets of many of the UK's children, and the rising tide of childhood obesity, it is vital that all children are protected from advertisers aggressively promoting junk food. "It is ridiculous that UK law protects children up to the age of 16 from junk food advertising during children's television programmes, yet marketers have a free-for-all when it comes to other media, such as the internet and text messaging." While the Code provides some protection to children below the age of 12 from marketing of unhealthy products, it contains loopholes, which exclude older children from such protection. By contrast, mandatory regulation, enforced by government body Ofcom, protects all children up to the age of 16 from unhealthy food advertising during children's television programmes.