Soft Drink Companies Admit that Marketing Guidelines for Preventing Childhood Obesity are Little More than Existing Policies
Earlier this week, the Australian Beverages Council announced a raft of initiatives, including the introduction of a calorie count on the front of soft drink cans and bottles.
Earlier this week, the Australian Beverages Council announced a raft of initiatives, including the introduction of a calorie count on the front of soft drink cans and bottles, the withdrawal of sugar-sweetened soft drinks from primary schools and a pledge by its members not to market to children under 12.
But, by the industry's own admission, most of these initiatives are existing policies. The council's chief executive, Tony Gentile, said most companies already undertake to not market to under-12s. "The state governments have been restating old policies so we thought it was an opportunity for us to do the same," Mr Gentile said yesterday. "We don't market to primary schools so we are not going to sell to them."
A forthcoming ban on soft drinks in all state schools makes the industry body's gesture largely cosmetic. A spokeswoman for NSW Health said: "As part of our healthy-canteen strategy, sugar-sweetened drinks will be banned from term one next year in primary and high schools. As such, the council's proposed changes will not have an impact on NSW schools."
Even the cornerstone announcement that the front of soft drink cans and bottles will carry a calorie count, expressed as a percentage of the daily calorie intake, has been all but ignored by the industry since it was first recommended six years ago.
