Tories to extend voluntary food marketing codes online
The Conservatives will expand existing voluntary junk food ad restrictions to the web and mobile under new proposals outlined by the party.
Its A Healthier Nation report, released yesterday, acknowledged a “concern’” about how foods with high fat, salt and sugar levels are marketed online and via mobile.
The paper stated that while it wasn’t looking to extend Ofcom’s remit to the web, existing voluntary marketing codes should be strengthened.
“Many food businesses also have voluntary marketing codes, both at UK and international level, which reinforce this and extend to other channels,” it said. “There is, however, concern about marketing foods through “non-broadcast media, such as the internet and mobile phones.
“We would like to see the development of a self-regulatory code by food businesses extending their current commitments to restrict advertising to children across all media, together with an agreed form of robust evaluation to publicly demonstrate that the code is being complied with,” it continued.
The report also outlined plans to publishing the results of all public health programmes online, as well as tools to allow people to compare the performance of health policies.
Last week Conservative leader David Cameron answered questions posed by the public about the party’s proposals for the NHS through a mash-up between Conservatives.com and Google’s Moderator platform (nma 7 January 2010).
This story first appeared on newmediaage.co.uk
