Dealing With 'Pester Power' and Fat Kids: The Ban on Fast Food Ads

In mid-2007, Malaysia banned fast food ads during the airing of kids' shows in an attempt to tackle the burgeoning obesity problem. Responses were mixed. Advertising companies raised a furore, some parents lauded the move, some were indifferent. Today, our kids are fatter than ever. So what have we done wrong?

Firstly, the ban was an applaudable public health effort and such a move would be much welcomed by public health practitioners here in New South Wales. In the United States, the public health community is at loggerheads with advertisers over the constitutional merits of a ban on fast food ads. In Jennifer L Pomeranz's 2010 article 'Television Food Marketing to Children Revisited: The Federal Trade Commission Has The Constitutional and Statutory Authority to Regulate' in the Journal of Law, Medicine and Ethics she discusses the issues in relation to the deceptive conduct of food advertisers and the application of the First Amendment (Freedom of Speech).

Pomeranz says: 'Because the vast majority of food marketed to children is unhealthy, the net effect is that children are developing poor nutrition-related beliefs and behaviours as a result of their exposure to such communication.' [Emphasis added.] (at 99)

Clearly there is much advocacy of bans of fast food ads. So why has it not worked in Malaysia? First of all, we need a complete and comprehensive ban of fast/junk food ads not just during the airing of children's shows, but all day long. The cultural aspects have to be taken into account. Our kids are exposed to adult shows all the time, documentaries, certain American sitcoms, etcetera. Both parents often work, leaving the kids with the maid, and the maid never regulates what the kids watch. At this point, we cant control what kids watch. So the ban needs to extend to all hours of the day.

Secondly, there has to be increased dissemination of information to parents to lock adult channels on satellite tv. For example, a simple government sponsored ad would work, informing parents of the governments' concerns about obesity. A friend of mine told me that Malaysians wouldn't understand even if the government came along and slapped them in the face. I disagree. Our public is an increasingly curious one, and it's about time they are treated like intelligent adults and given the cold, hard, brutal facts on public health issues.