Children are not safe from advertising even in schools. Among the »presents« the first grade pupils received this year in some schools were also lollipops, candies and mailshots for dietary supplements. Marketing of certain food with inadequate nutrition profile was noticed in children and youth magazines, and even in study material – although this kind of food can be easily shown in a different manner, e.g. by drawings.
Children and adolescents are an easy prey for marketing professionals, due to their "ignorance"; marketing influences their eating habits, warn the Slovene Consumers' Association (ZPS) and the National Institute of Public Health of the Republic of Slovenia (IVZ).
Based on the data from World Health Organisation, the increase of body weight of Slovenian children is among the most distinctive compared to other countries. For that reason the influence on children regarding consumption of unhealthy food should be limited, warn ZPS and IVZ.
Prohibit marketing, build awareness, introduce advertising codex
ZPS suggests legal prohibition of any marketing in school environment; enhanced education of children and adolescents on the importance of a healthy diet; building awareness on food marketing; systematic limitation of marketing of food with inadequate nutrition profile for children and adolescents; adoption of a codex for media regarding marketing of food for children; prohibition of showing actual food products in study material in general; establishing a productive cooperation with industry with the purpose of improving food intended for children and adolescents, and making it less sweet, less salty, less greasy…
Children react differently than adults to advertisers' persuasion techniques. They are not capable of a critical evaluation of the information; especially vulnerable are younger children with no adequate life experiences, while the older children are especially perceptive to emotional impacts in the advertisements based on fun, happiness, beauty, socialising with peers.
Share of obese children is increasing
IVZ warns that overweight and obesity are a serious public health problem both in EU and in our country. In terms of overweight and obese 15-year-olds Slovenia placed third among the countries of the European Union included in the HBSC research, and exceeds the average of peers from all the countries. The portion of overweight children and adolescents is increasing.
Vida Fajdiga Turk from IVZ warns: "Childhood and adolescent obesity presents a risk for obesity in adulthood, with all the consequences arising from it."
Measures must be taken
If children in school are exposed to marketing of unhealthy food, if their parents offer them milk slices for breakfast or as a snack because they believe them to be healthy, something must be very wrong! And as it is unreasonable to expect that the "unhealthy" food will conveniently vanish from our shops, awareness of parents and children must be built, claims ZPS.
Children are not safe from advertising even in schools. Among the »presents« the first grade pupils received this year in some schools were also lollipops, candies and mailshots for dietary supplements. Marketing of certain food with inadequate nutrition profile was noticed in children and youth magazines, and even in study material – although this kind of food can be easily shown in a different manner, e.g. by drawings.
