Food companies resort to tactics “unethical”, using bright colors and cartoon characters to manipulate children into wanting sweets and crisps, according to a report cited by The Guardian.
Colorful candy wrappers attract children – Photo Shutterstock
Bite Back, affiliated to Jamie Oliver's culinary empire, asked nutrition experts to assess 262 UK sugary food products made by the 10 biggest companies, highlighting children's health concerns.
Specifically, Oliver accuses food manufacturers of choosing packaging deliberately designed to “capture young minds”, thus promoting the sale of unhealthy food, The Guardian reports.
The study by Action on Salt, a nutrition expert group associated with Queen Mary University of London, found that: 78% of products were considered unhealthy because of their fat, salt or sugar content, 67% of those that had a character were unhealthy, 80% of the products used bright colors as well as funny patterns and letters to attract children's attention.
“Some businesses use packaging that appeals to children to offer them unhealthy products. These include Kinder Surprise, M&Ms, Randoms and Monster Munch Giants – all hiding behind colorful packaging that appeals to children while drenching their products in sugar and fat“, Bite Back representatives sent.
For his part, Jamie Oliver stated: “Whether it's funny characters, bright images or new and interesting shapes, these changing companies choose them because they know they will capture the minds of young people. This gimmick … is yet another way companies bombard kids with unhealthy junk food”.
On Thursday, Bite Back will give evidence to a House of Lords inquiry into ultra-processed food, diet and obesity.
According to the report, all 58 child-friendly products manufactured by Mondelēz International, which owns the Cadbury, Oreo, Milka and Dairylea brands, were classified as unhealthy. All 22 Ferrero products were also found to contain significant amounts of fat, salt or sugar, according to Bite Back's findings.
The report found that Mars, PepsiCo and Kellogg's market dozens of products that appeal to children that are considered unhealthy. Despite this, none of the products that appeal to children were produced by Danone.
In February, Wes Streeting, a member of the Labor Party, expressed concern that “As citizens, we are very manipulated by the food marketing that is thrown at us“. He pointed out that there are “serious arguments” for imposing new restrictions on food packaging.
Streeting promised that a Labor government would implement a 9pm limit on advertising for these products, while urging food manufacturers to take an active role in the fight against obesity. In the absence of proactive measures from them, he warned that coercive action might be needed to get them to act, comparing the process to the action of a “compressor cylinder“.
The Department of Health and Social Care said the government had “a proven track record of taking action on childhood obesity”.
