Food industry unveils second ad blitz to promote GDA labelling

The food industry is launching a second burst of advertising support for its Guideline Daily Amount (GDA) labelling scheme as it looks to gather momentum over the Food Standards Agency traffic light system.

The second phase of the £4m “What’s Inside Guide” will focus on promoting greater understanding and usage of the GDA labels, which are now used on over 20,000 products.

The first stage of its advertising, which included television, aimed to drive awareness and familiarity of the labels, but the second wave aims to help consumers develop a “deeper understanding” of what the labelling means.

The campaign includes a series of features across H Bauer-owned magazines Take a Break and Bella in an eight-week period, focusing on different elements of the label. It will also include recipe pull-outs and meal planners to highlight how the scheme works.

The campaign includes the distribution of 15,000 “What’s Inside Guide” leaflets in 3,000 doctor’s surgeries around the UK. It is primarily geared towards women, and aims to reach 13 million consumers.

GDA campaign director Jane Holdsworth claims independent research indicates that 80% of shoppers have seen GDA nutrition labels on food and drink products, with 54% using them.

The GDA campaign, which is backed by leading packaged goods companies such as Tesco, Kellogg and Coca-Cola, is running in opposition to the FSA’s voluntary trafficlight labelling system, which consists of red, amber and green markings, dependent on the levels of fat, salt and sugar in a product.

The FSA campaign is backed by retailers such as Sainsbury’s, Waitrose, and Asda, which claim it is easier to understand than the GDA scheme.