Sydney - Hardly a week goes by without a social welfare group appealing to the Australian government to ban junk food advertising on children's television. The argument is the same the world over: the obesity epidemic is partly caused by children pestering adults to buy them the fatty foods and fizzy drinks that they see on television.
"It's plain common sense," says nutritionist Rosemary Stanton, "the manufacturers wouldn't be spending millions of dollars every year advertising to children if it didn't work."
Really! reply the manufacturers, retailers and advertising agencies. Prove that there is a link between childhood chubbiness and fast food commercials, they demand.
To howls from the social welfare lobby, the government communications regulator in August sided with the food people and refused to impose further restrictions on advertising during children's television hours.
The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) concluded there was not enough evidence of a firm connection between overweight children and what they watch on the box.
ACMA chairman Chris Chapman, in the first review of guidelines in 18 years, said in a statement that the "research does indicate that there is a relationship between advertising and children's food and beverage preference and requests" and that "it also indicates a relationship between television viewing - as distinct from television advertising specifically - and obesity in children."
And them came the killer: "However, existing research does not clearly demonstrate a causal relationship between any of these factors and obesity - and indeed only a modest association is apparent."
Understandably there was wailing and gnashing of teeth from the lobby group Coalition on Food Advertising to Children (CFAC). It would not accept Chapman's heresy.
"In spite of ACMA's claims, there is little doubt that junk food commercials are contributing to the obesity epidemic by encouraging pester power," the coalition declared. "Banning junk food commercials from being screened when high numbers of children watch television will make a difference."
Kate Carnell, the chief executive of the Australian Food and Grocery Council, welcomed ACMA's report, which was two years in the making. She said that "evidence to support advertising bans as a solution to childhood obesity does not stack up" adding that "childhood obesity is not unique to Australia, and governments around the world that have tried to restrict advertising to children have found that it does little to solve the problem."
