Junk food advertising ban a salvo on child obesity
The Australian Medical Association has welcomed the tabling of a bill to ban junk food advertising aimed at children as a positive measure that will help tackle obesity in Australia.
The Healthy Kids Advertising Bill 2023 was tabled in federal parliament earlier today by independent MP and GP, Dr Sophie Scamps.
AMA President Professor Steve Robson said the AMA supports the measure, which puts the health of Australia’s children before industry profits by restricting the targeting of children with unhealthy food advertising.
“We welcome Dr Scamps’ bill which effectively puts the food and advertising industry on notice that the sheer saturation of junk food marketing to children can no longer be accepted,” Professor Robson said.
“Children are very susceptible to what they see around them and are just bombarded with sophisticated behavioural marketing which is very effective at changing behaviour and steering them towards unhealthy choices.
“The beauty of this bill is that it’s made for the modern day. It goes beyond banning junk food advertising on television and radio between 6.00am and 9.30pm, applying the ban to subscription and streaming services; websites and social media.
“With a quarter of Australia’s children, and more than half of our adults overweight or obese and about half of all Australians having at least one chronic disease, it's time we take some preventative action.”
Professor Robson said there’s no silver bullet in preventative health and addressing the impacts of overweight and obesity on the population requires a broad suite of measures.
“One of the AMA’s key policy priorities is to tackle obesity and nutrition through a tax on sugary drinks. Australians drink 2.4 billion litres of sugary drinks every year, with the average can of soft drink containing around eight to ten teaspoons of sugar and no nutritional benefit.
“Chronic health conditions such as type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease, are more likely to develop at a young age due to obesity and these are preventable.
“Just last week we talked about shifting from a ‘sickcare’ health system to a healthcare system. This bill will help us do that and deserves to become law for the sake of the health of our children.”
Read more about the Bill on Sophie Scamps website
Read more about the AMA’s #Sickly-Sweet campaign
