The latest food manufacturer to join the anti-childhood obesity bandwagon is Nestle. FCC Commissioner Deborah Taylor Tate applauded the company’s decision to limit its advertising aimed at children under the age of 12. It becomes the 15th company to do so. The pledge affects candy and milk flavoring additives.
Tate said, “Today Nestlé joins fourteen of the nation’s largest food and beverage companies in pledging to only advertise better-for-you foods to children under 12. In particular, this means the popular WONKA brand candies will no longer be advertised to young children. Nestlé has also pledged that its ads targeting children will be limited to 100% fruit or vegetable juice drinks, 100 calorie low-fat flavored milk, chocolate powder flavoring that is either 25% lower in sugar, or contains no added sugar, and frozen desserts that contain no more than 100 calories. I applaud Nestlé for this strong commitment to our children’s health and encourage all companies to join the Children’s Food and Beverage Advertising Industry (CFBAI) to help end the epidemic of childhood obesity in America.”
RBR/TVBR observation: This is another area where effective voluntary action taken by stakeholder industries may be necessary to avoid a round of regulation. That is especially true in this case. Few politicians can resist the opportunity to protect our children, and there are lots and lots of noisy watchdogs on the childhood obesity case
