Do these children know what they are eating as they smile and run around in a fast food commercial?
The federal government proposed sweeping new guidelines on Thursday that could push the food industry to overhaul how it advertises cereal, soda, snacks, restaurant meals and other foods to children.
Obesity in children has increased immensely over this decade. Therefore, regulators are taking aim at a range of tactics used to market foods high in sugar, fat or salt to children, including the use of cartoon characters like Toucan Sam, the brightly colored Froot Loops pitchman, who appears in television commercials and online games as well as on cereal boxes.
Regulators are asking food makers and restaurant companies to make a choice: make your products healthier or stop advertising them to youngsters. The guidelines are meant to be voluntary, but companies are likely to face heavy pressure to adopt them. Companies that choose to take part would have five to 10 years to bring their products and marketing into compliance. The federal agencies also acknowledged that a ‘large percentage of food products currently in the marketplace would not meet the principles.’
The food industry immediately criticized the proposal, saying they had already taken significant steps to improve recipes and change the way it advertises to children.
The guidelines would apply to both young children and teenagers.
” I think that it’s a great idea because obesity is a huge problem in the United States so we need to show kids what is right to eat and show them a healthy lifestyle,” stated Jahtiek Long, junior at New Dorp High School.
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