Baby Milk Action welcomes ban on Product Placement of junk foods and Baby foods 

Baby Milk Action is breathing a sigh of relief at reports that the UK Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) will now not allow product placement of junk foods and baby foods on TV programmes made in the UK and is seeking clarity of precisely which products will be covered. According to the Guardian, a letter written by Culture Secretary Ben Bradshaw to the cabinet confirms that he proposes to “ban product placement in the following areas: alcoholic drinks, HFSS, food, gambling, smoking accessories, over-the-counter medicines and baby food.” (1)

Baby Milk Action is the UK member of the global network, the International Baby Food Action Network (IBFAN) and the secretariat of the UK Baby Feeding Law Group a coalition of 23 leading health professional and mother-support organisations. These and many other groups have been calling for the UK - which has one of the lowest breastfeeding rates in Europe - to stand firm in its defence of public health and to strengthen, not weaken legislation covering the marketing of baby milks and foods in line with the recommendations of the World Health Assembly.(2)

In its response to the DCMS consultation Patti Rundall, OBE, Policy Director of Baby Milk Action, highlighted the fact that breastfeeding is the natural and optimum way to feed babies and provides an ideal window of opportunity for obesity prevention. "We are really pleased that the Government seems to have listened to our concerns. Allowing product placement of breastmilk substitutes, baby foods and feeding equipment would exacerbate the serious problems the UK Government already has in trying to ensure that parents receive unbiased and objective information on infant and young child feeding. UK/EU legislation is already full of loopholes, and allows a high level of misleading advertising of baby milks and foods - many of which are high in sugars or sweeteners and which affect children's taste palates and appetite control. These products are all cleverly promoted as the healthy option with deceptive health and nutrition claims. Allowing companies to pay to have them integrated into story lines make an already bad situation much much worse. "

Product placement also creates opportunities for manufacturers to mislead the public by linking their names to healthy or worthy activities such as a sport, good causes or education. In this way they can create an undeserved halo effect for the whole product range. Under pressure to reduce direct advertising to children, many companies are representing themselves as ‘nutrition educators’ offering phone line and web-based help, information and education services - all key ways to market products and encourage the use of artificial feeding. (4)

Studies show that children are particularly susceptible to embedded brand messages which operate at an subconscious level. In its comments to the US Federal Communications Commission Notice of Inquiry on embedded advertising, (Sept 08) the Campaign for Commercial Free Childhood said:“As a result of the constant commercial bombardment, children are now more brand conscious than ever. Toddlers as young as two have been found to have attachments to brands. Children as young as three are capable of recognizing trademarked brand logos. One study found that 81% of three- to six-year-olds after having seen just the logo for Coca-Cola can describe the soft-drink product. On average, teens between thirteen and seventeen have 145 conversations about brands per week, more than twice as many as adults."

The baby feeding industry shows no signs of abiding by its obligations under World Health Assembly Resolutions, or halting its drive to maintain and expand its markets in the face of government efforts to protect breastfeeding and infant health. (5) According to the analysis of the global baby food market, Euromonitor International, "Baby food global retail

value sales will surpass US$31 billion in 2008, a current value increase of 10.5% from the previous year at fixed US$ exchange rates. respectively. Western Europe and North America remain the third- and fourth-largest regional markets…..

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