On 3 May 2007, the New Zealand government announced an agreement with television broadcasters on a new five-point plan aimed at improving food advertising to children. Under the new rules, food/drink products will have to comply with a food classification scheme being drafted by the NZ government for foods in schools. Only foods that fall within the scheme will be allowed to be advertised on terrestrial television during designated time-bands. The new system is expected to come into force in August 2007.

 

The joint announcement was made by Education and Broadcasting Minister, Steve Maharey and Health Minister Pete Hodgson. The voluntary agreement was proposed by the New Zealand Television Broadcasters' Council (NZTBC), representing CanWest TVWorks (TV3 and C4) and Television New Zealand (ONE and 2).

 

- The agreement will introduce a new edition of the 'Getting It Right' guide to children’s television advertising which will include a new Children’s Food (CF) rating. Only food products that receive this rating will be able to advertise in programmes directed at children.

- The Ministry of Health (MOH) is introducing a food classification system in July 2007 for use in schools which will provide guidelines on food and nutrition. Only food, drink, fast food outlets and confectionary products that fall within the scheme, which is not yet confirmed, will receive the CF rating and will be able to be advertised in programmes directed at children aged 5-14.

- All other advertisements for these products will be rated as General Excluding Children (GXC), which means they cannot be shown during children’s programme zones.

- To gain a CF rating, advertisers will have to submit a CF Approval Application form. The answers on this form will enable the television industry’s pre-vetting agency, the Television Commercials Approvals Bureau (TVCAB) to resolve the eligibility of the TVC for a CF classification. That decision will be based on the MOH food classification system along with other information supplied by advertisers and agencies.

 

- These programme zones are well established time periods on TV2 and TV3 which offer programmes targeted particularly at children aged 5- 13. These are the time periods in which the new food advertising classification will be used. The zones vary slightly from month to month and those in use in the first months of 2007 were:

- TV2: Mon-Fri 7.00 am to 8.35 am and 3.30 pm to 5.30 pm, Sat 7.00 am to 10.00 am

- TV3: Mon-Fri 7.10 am to 8.25 am and 3.00 pm to 4.30 pm, Sat 7.00 am to 9.00 am

- Programming for under five year olds occurs early in the morning and contains no advertising.

 

Compliance with the new rules and their effectiveness in terms of improving diets will be monitored.

 

Further points in the agreement with broadcasters are:

- Provide free commercial airtime to the Health Sponsorship Council social marketing campaign aimed at improving children’s healthy nutrition – to the value of $0.5 million per annum for the remaining two years of the programme.

- Work closely with Sports and Recreation New Zealand (SPARC) in the production of television programming aimed at improving diet and exercise practice of children.

- Provide training for advertisers and agencies in the new Getting It Right guide which is related to the Ministry of Health’s food classification system and the Codes for Food and Children approved by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA)

- Participate in the government consultative group on food advertising which will include monitoring of food promotion. The Ministry is developing an approach to monitoring television advertising of food and beverages. It is intended that high fat, sugar and/or salt food and beverages (HFSS) and low fat, sugar and/or salt food and beverages (LFSS) will be covered and that they will be categorised according to the Ministry's food and beverage classification system. The monitoring will provide information on the nature and extent of food advertising on television, how the composition of this advertising has changed over time (indicative time frames 2003 to 2010), and the New Zealand population’s exposure to advertising of HFSS and LFSS food and beverages. This will have a particular focus on children and young people's exposure.

 

Today’s announcement follows the food, media and advertising industries signing the voluntary Food Industry Accord in 2004. The Accord was drafted in response to the NZ Government’s vision of an environment and society where individuals, families and communities are supported to eat well, live physically well active lives and attain and maintain a healthy body weight.

 

The Accord commits its signatories including the NZTBC to:

- Recognising that obesity is a major risk to public health and to working collaboratively to tackle it.

- Doing all that is possible to encourage all sectors of the food industry to create commercially successful products and services that will make a positive contribution to the health of New Zealanders.

 

Source: Advertising Education Forum

 

WFA updates its members on developments related to food and beverage advertising via the Responsible Advertising and Children Programme. See the website for more details. For more information please contact w.gilroy@wfanet.org