AS NEW FORMS of media get incorporated more and more into our daily lives, it’s becoming harder to escape advertisements that follow us from morning to night.

Increased use of online media by children means that this impressionable segment is being shown an unending amount of advertisements, with many having a direct impact on their health. Research has found that children see three junk food ads online
every ten minutes.

Children are being bombarded with junk food advertising online by junk food companies, which is heavily influencing their food choices, thereby fuelling obesity. 

One in 20 children alive in Ireland today will die prematurely due to overweight and obesity, according to the State’s own research. We’re now seeing children as young as six presenting with high blood pressure. But the Government is not acting on its promise to protect them.

Contemplate the below statements around junk food advertisements and give your opinion on how strongly you agree or disagree with them.

State-owned advertising

The Irish Heart Foundation says it’s nonsensical that the State is earning revenue from junk food ads on public transport and other State owned infrastructure that is helping to make the obesity crisis worse.

Online junk food advertising

In the UK, children under the age of 16 are exposed to 15.1 billion junk food ads a year
online. That’s the equivalent of almost 500 ads per second. 57% of teens in Ireland say
online channels, that they access 38 times a day on average, are the biggest influencer of
their food choices.

Advertising watershed

Despite partial regulation of broadcast media, four and five year old children are still
seeing more than 1,000 ads online every year, and older children a lot more mainly in
family viewing time when around 60% of food ads are for unhealthy products.

Junk Food And Drink Products

Junk food marketing manipulates children’s choices, encouraging them to overconsume
unhealthy food, leading to weight gain over time. Three quarter of the teenagers participating in the Irish Heart Foundation research say they are exposed to a lot of ads and a third said junk food marketing to under-18s should be banned.

Public Health Act

The Government made a commitment in the Programme for Government 2020 to
introduce a Public Health (Obesity) Act, to include tackling junk food marketing to
children. But so far no progress has been made. State research estimates that 85,000 of
this generation of children on the island will die prematurely due to overweight and
obesity. The Irish Heart Foundation says urgent action must be taken to change this
trajectory.

Petition

The Irish Heart Foundation is calling on the Government to act on its Programme for Government commitment to a Public Health (Obesity) Act. This should include a wide range of measures to tackle our childhood obesity crisis, including:

1. A blanket ban on junk food marketing online
2. An extension of the broadcast watershed to 9pm
3. A ban on advertising on state-owned transport, buildings, and other public infrastructure

The Irish Heart Foundation is urging members of the public to sign its petition calling for this legislation to be introduced urgently.

Tell the Government to make it stop by signing the petition on irishheart.ie