Government and AA in obesity venture

The Government is set to form a partnership with the Advertising Association in its fight against the obesity crisis. It is the first time that industry stakeholders will get a voice to influence any new Government policies on food advertising.

The move comes almost a year after the Ofcom rules banning advertising of products high in salt, fat and sugar around children’s TV programming were introduced.

The alliance between the Government and advertisers reflects the pledge made by Public Health Minister Dawn Primarolo last year to work with the industry to tackle obesity.

Following aggressive lobbying by the AA that the rules should be given a fair chance before further restrictions were introduced, Primarolo suggested that it will not further tighten the screws on food advertising before listening to the industry in a letter to AA chief executive Peta Buscombe.

The details of the partnership are expected to be revealed later this summer.

Speaking at the Advertising Association summer reception on June 10, Buscombe hinted at the launch of the partnership when she said: “We are now on the brink of launching an incredibly powerful initiative, in partnership with Government, to tackle some difficult social issues.

“Only this afternoon we had a high level meeting at the AA, a meeting comprising the media, advertisers and agencies to discuss with the Government a unique opportunity to demonstrate our value and to show we can make a difference, that we are serous and that we want to be part of the solution.”