'Monitoring complaints about food marketing to children under the Australian industry Codes 2015–20: a qualitative analysis' by Wendy L Watson, Amy Pagotto, Korina Richmond and Clare Hughes in (2021) 45(6) Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health 562 comments
Regulation of food marketing to children is widely recognised as key to addressing childhood obesity rates. A review of evidence-based obesity prevention interventions for the Australian context found legislation restricting television advertising of unhealthy foods a cost-effective obesity prevention initiative. Addressing marketing of unhealthy foods in publicly-controlled settings and marketing associated with sport and major community events were promising interventions. Reducing advertising of, and exposure to, unhealthy food and drinks was one of the top five focus areas raised by participants in the 2020 consultation on the National Obesity Strategy nd was listed in the draft National Preventive Health Strategy, released in March 2021.
In 2009, the Australian food industry introduced two self-regulatory Codes to address food and beverage advertising to children, the Responsible Children's Marketing Initiative (RCMI) for grocery products and the Quick Service Restaurant Initiative for Responsible Advertising and Marketing to Children (QSRI) for fast food. Within the RCMI, healthiness of foods appropriate for advertising is defined by individual company criteria, and the QSRI includes specific energy and nutrient criteria for a ‘children's meal’ but no other fast food products. The Australian Association of National Advertisers (AANA) has self-regulatory Codes relevant to protecting children from unhealthy food advertising, the Code of Ethics, the Code of Advertising and Marketing to Children and the Food and Beverages Code. Previously, companies were voluntary signatories to the RCMI and QSRI, however, in June 2019 an additional clause in the Food and Beverages Code required compliance with the RCMI or QSRI, meaning all food and beverage advertising should comply with these Codes. From July 2020, these two Codes came under the management of the AANA.
The self-regulatory Codes in Australia have not changed the rate of children's exposure to food advertising on television, or in outdoor settings. Globally, while industry-sponsored reports indicate high adherence to voluntary Codes, peer-reviewed papers show self-regulatory Codes have failed to reduce children's exposure to unhealthy food advertising. Since 2010, the World Health Organization (WHO) has had a set of recommendations to reduce both the exposure of children to, and power of, marketing of foods. The 2012 WHO framework for implementing those standards provides a broad range of options and factors to consider when developing a policy. The 2020 World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF) Building Momentum report has built on that framework and collated international experience on best practice policy in five main areas: legal measures needed, who should be protected, forms and levels of marketing to be restricted, and which foods and beverages should be restricted.
A complaints program managed by Ad Standards supports the Australian advertising Codes. Complainants lodge complaints regarding advertising through an online form on the Ad Standards website or by post. Ad Standards convenes a Community Panel (the Board) responsible for reviewing these complaints. Decisions on the outcomes of complaints are reported on the website in a case report that summarises what the complainant/s said, the advertiser's response, deliberations and final outcome (dismissed or upheld). Complaints about the same advertisement are grouped together with, typically, one case report per advertisement. There has been no independent critique of these complaints to understand whether the Codes address complainants’ concerns. This paper aims to qualitatively analyse the case reports of complaints to Ad Standards, regarding unhealthy food marketing to children, published over the last six years, and compare the Codes with best practice recommendations from WCRF.
The authors note that case reports on complaints about food marketing to children under the five industry Codes – the Responsible Children's Marketing Initiative, the Quick Service Restaurant Initiative and the Australian Association of National Advertisers Code of Ethics, Code of Advertising and Marketing to Children and Food and Beverages Code – were qualitatively analysed. Reports on the Ad Standards website in the food/beverage groceries and food/beverage venues categories from 2015-2020 were investigated. The most common clauses from the Codes were identified and quotes from reports used to illustrate the determinations. Codes were compared with World Cancer Research Fund recommendations on policy to protect children.
Only 14 of 119 complaints resulted in a reported breach of industry Codes, with the most common reason for dismissing complaints involved clauses requiring advertisements to be ‘primarily’ directed to children. The Codes did not align with best practice recommendations. Complaints by the public show concern for food advertising to children but the Australian industry Codes fall short of addressing those concerns. Government regulation is required to protect children from unhealthy food marketing.
