How parents are being misled
Mums are being hoodwinked by manipulative food
manufacturers.
Following on from our report 'How
parents are being misled', we carried out a survey of mums to
find out just how much has changed in a year. And we found that 9
out of 10 mums are misled by tactics food manufacturers use to
market foods for kids that are high in fat, salt and sugar.*
According to the survey mums believe that statements such as
'Wholegrain', 'Source of calcium' and 'No artificial flavouring or
colourings' indicate that a product is healthy. However, our report
shows that this is not always the case.
How parents are being misled - the report
The report, which was prepared by The Food Commission on our
behalf, was the first of its kind and investigated how
children’s breakfast foods and lunchbox snacks are marketed to
parents. Marketers are sidestepping the regulations to advertise
foods high in fat, salt and sugar intended for children.
Our research confirmed that parents are being
bombarded with a riot of messages about what is best for their
kids.
Download or order the report.
Current regulations don't go far enough so we’re calling
for:
- A ban on all junk food advertising before 9pm
- Strong regulation of both broadcast and non broadcast
media
- A compulsory front of pack food labelling system with traffic light labels to allow parents to see
how healthy food products are at a glance.
*This research was carried out by TNS
Omnibus between 24 November-10 December 2009 using an online
survey. 1454 parents aged between 16-64 years old with kids aged 15
or under were interviewed from a sample representative of the UK
population.