ACT children can't escape junk food marketing, Heart Foundation says
Children in the ACT cannot escape junk food marketing and messages about healthy foods are being "completely drowned out", according to the Heart Foundation.
The foundation's comment came as an audit of food and beverage marketing in Canberra revealed that 78 per cent of food marketed to children in the ACT was unhealthy.
The audit was conducted by the Heart Foundation in 2013 at the request of the ACT Government and covered 61 sites including shopping centres, supermarkets and sporting events.
In total, 940 instances of food and beverage marketing were found, with 735 items flagged as unhealthy under the Department of Health's National Healthy School Canteens Guidelines.
The report found that 86 per cent of marketing at audited sporting venues was classified as unhealthy food, with 80 per cent of items being unhealthy at audited shopping centres and 77 per cent at audited supermarkets.
Heart Foundation ACT's chief officer Tony Stubbs said the findings were shocking.
"This audit clearly shows that messages about healthier foods and drinks are being completely drowned out by marketing for unhealthy items such as confectionery, fried foods and sugary drinks," he said.
"Even when children join their local sports organisations or go to sports venues, they cannot escape it."
'It is setting them up for poor dietary habits'
Mr Stubbs said having eight out of 10 products that are marketed to children being unhealthy was not the way encourage children in Canberra to eat healthily.
"We really need to make sure that we fix and re-address this balance so we can actually better support the work the great work that is already happening with parents, schools and governments," he said.
One in four children in the ACT is overweight or obese, according to Australian Bureau of Statistics figures.
Mr Stubbs said it was not just the immediate negative impacts of junk food marketing that parents needed to be worried about.
"It is setting them up for poor dietary habits preferences ... that might carry them through into adulthood," he said.
Mr Stubbs said that children were particularly vulnerable to junk food advertising, so it was important to provide them with messages about healthy eating options.
"We do know that the packaging and the marketing have influence on their choices, on their requests and also purchases, but they're not cognitively able to differentiate that," he said.
"So we need to support our children and protect our children to ensure they are not getting saturated with these messages and we give them the opportunity and a chance to get some good messages."
Community consultation later this year: Corbell
Health Minister Simon Corbell said the report provided the ACT Government with an important snapshot of the current food and beverage marketing environment in Canberra and showed there was work to be done to achieve a real impact on the health of the territory's children.
He said there would be a consultation process later this year about the findings in the report, which would involve the community, food retailers and the business sector.
"The ACT Government is keen to hear the community's views on this issue, and their ideas on ways the government can work collaboratively with local business to reduce the impact of unhealthy food and drink marketing," he said.
