FCC Suggests National Standards to Limit Junk Food Advertising to Children

In testimony before two U.S. Senate Subcommittees, Federal Communications Commission (FCC) chairman Kevin Martin praised the efforts of some media companies to restrict food and beverage advertisements targeting children but indicated that industry-wide standards would likely be needed to achieve significant benefit, Worldscreen.com reports. Martin praised the Joint Task Force on Media and Childhood Obesity for securing significant voluntary commitments aimed at reducing media's negative impact on children's eating habits. He singled out ION media's Qubo, calling the network the "gold standard" for leadership in children's advertising for its commitment to only license characters for promoting healthy foods and to reject child-targeted advertising for unhealthy foods. Martin also referenced Disney's Healthy Kids Initiative and similar efforts by Discovery Kids, Cartoon Network and Sesame Workshop to only license characters to promote foods that meet strict nutritional standards. However, Martin expressed disappointment that more media outlets have not followed suit. He noted the Task Force's inability to reach consensus on uniform standards of what constitutes healthy and unhealthy food and other media companies unwillingness to place any limit on the advertising of unhealthy foods on children's programs. Martin suggested that the FCC may have to impose industry-wide restrictions if those other media fail to regulate themselves. Though Martin said he preferred to avoid FCC intervention, he acknowledged that "no widespread voluntary commitment on behalf of the media industry was forthcoming" (Carugati, Worldscreen.com, 9/24/08).