NEWS RELEASE
For More Information Contact: Robert Weissman (202) 387-8030
For Immediate Release: July 18th, 2007

Commercial Alert Statement on Junk Food Industry's Self-Regulation of Food Marketing to Children

Following is the statement of Robert Weissman, managing director of Commercial Alert, about today’s announcement on self-regulation of food marketing to children by 11 big food companies:

Today’s announcement of more voluntary marketing restraints by the junk food industry reflects the public and political momentum building against junk food purveyors.

But it is not a solution to the marketing-related childhood obesity epidemic.

That the new voluntary standards will authorize the continued television advertising of junk food on “family” programs is enough to show they are inadequate. But the problems go deeper than that; the junk food industry has demonstrated by its actions that it cannot be trusted to self-police.

Childhood obesity is at triple the levels of two decades ago. There’s no doubt that multiple factors are responsible. There’s also no doubt that junk food marketing is a crucial part of the story.

The junk food corporations have made marketing to kids into a business model. Voluntary efforts to scale back are fine, but they are no substitute for mandatory, government rules backed by meaningful penalties and for an end to taxpayer subsidies for advertising targeting kids.

We call on the next Congress to swiftly pass the Parents’ Bill of Rights, to give parents the legal rights to raise their own children with less corporate interference and subversion.

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The Parents’ Bill of Rights is available at http://www.commercialalert.org/pbor.pdf.  A key provision in the Parents’ Bill of Rights is the Children’s Advertising Subsidy Revocation Act, which would revoke the federal tax deduction for advertising to children under 12 years of age.

Commercial Alert is a nonprofit public health and consumer group.  Our mission is “to keep the commercial culture within its proper sphere, and to prevent it from exploiting children and subverting the higher values of family, community, environmental integrity and democracy. For more information, see http://www.commercialalert.org.