A strategic session was held on marketing regulation to protect the rights of children and adolescents from the influence of unhealthy food advertising
On Thursday, April 25, 2024, an online strategic session “The Problem of Marketing Regulation to Protect the Rights of Children and Teenagers from the Influence of Junk Food Advertising” was held. The purpose of the event was to get acquainted with the principles, methods and practices of regulating the advertising of food products for children and adolescents in the European Union. Representatives of the DPSS of Ukraine and their territorial branches, the Ministry of Health of Ukraine, the National Council for Television and Radio Broadcasting, advertisers and the scientific community were invited to the discussion, in total – more than 50 participants.
The attendees presented the main tasks of marketing regulation to protect children’s rights from the influence of unhealthy food advertising, outlined markers of unhealthy food for children and adolescents, discussed digital challenges of marketing regulation and self-regulatory practices of marketing regulation.
Project expert, Doctor of Economics, Professor Nataliya Savytska , head of the department of marketing, management of reputation and customer experience of the State University of Biotechnology, focused on the target tasks of marketing regulation to protect children’s rights from the influence of unhealthy food advertising. She emphasized that the focus of such tasks are three main issues: definition of concepts; markers of unhealthy food; choice of regulation policy. Therefore, the basic concepts need legislative regulation, as they differ in various directives and codes, as well as in national EU legislative documents. Different interpretations refer to the most discussed terms and their content: marketing; digital marketing; marketing channels of message distribution, advertising release time; children; teenagers; regulation policy; junk food, etc.
There is also an ongoing debate on the effectiveness of different policy options for regulating the marketing of junk food to protect children’s rights. Well-known organizations in the field of protection of children’s rights are the World Health Organization, the Food Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, and the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC). Self-regulatory organizations such as the European Advertising Standards Alliance (EASA) play a major role. Today there is a debate about the effectiveness of self-regulatory practices. Ukraine needs to study the best experience of international practices, compare it with its own experience and make a decision on regulation in the matter of protecting children’s rights from unhealthy food advertising.
Expert, head of the NGO “Nutrition and Quality of Life”, Doctor of Technical Sciences, Professor Victoria Yevlash , head of the Department of Chemistry, Biochemistry, Microbiology and Food Hygiene of the State Biotechnological University, focused on identifying markers of unhealthy food for children and adolescents. She noted that non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are the main cause of death worldwide, and Ukraine is no exception. Among NCDs, 4 groups of diseases have the highest specific weight: cardiovascular diseases, malignant neoplasms, diabetes and obesity. Particularly dangerous factors in the nutrition of children and adolescents are: salt, processed food fats containing tras-form and sugar. WHO considers “unhealthy food” as food that is high in calories, salt, sugar and fat (saturated and trans fat) but lacking in nutrients, vitamins and minerals. Most of the “harmful food” belongs to the category of sugary drinks, snacks and fast food, desserts and breakfast cereals. which is often chosen by teenagers.
Expert Olena Andrienko , member of the Supervisory Board of the All-Ukrainian Advertising Coalition NGO, deputy director of legal affairs at Publicis Groupe Ukraine, focused the attention of those present on the legislative framework regulating unhealthy food advertising aimed at children and teenagers. The expert also emphasized the peculiarities of regulation of advertising in the digital sphere in the EU. Relevance is determined by the active presence of modern children in the digital space. There is an Audiovisual Services Directive, which in Articles 9 and 28 mentions the protection of children from the marketing of unhealthy food products. In Ukraine, there is also regulation of advertising in the digital environment, in particular, advertising of unhealthy food is classified as self-regulation. Ukrainian legislation clearly states that it is prohibited to process children’s data for commercial purposes, i.e. for the purpose of providing information about food products
An active discussion took place around the issue of the development of self-regulation. Project expert Oleksandr Gladunov , vice-president of the NGO “UAM”, emphasized the need to study the best global practices in the self-regulatory sphere. And also – the need to cooperate with the National Council on Television and Radio Broadcasting as a self-regulatory body in the information sphere.
Those present at the strategic session decided to monitor global and European trends in the regulation of unhealthy food advertising and harmonize legislation in this area; collaborate with sharing platforms like Meta, Instagram, Google, etc. Marketers should take an active part in the practical implementation of the Concept of the implementation of state policy in the sphere of promoting the development of socially responsible business in Ukraine for the period up to 2030, which was adopted in 2020, and direct their efforts to its implementation
The event took place within the framework of the project implemented by the NGO “Ukrainian Marketing Association” – “Harmonization of the Ukrainian policy of implementing the regulation of food marketing with the European practice of protecting the rights of children and adolescents from the influence of unhealthy food advertising.” The project is implemented with the support of the European Union and the “Renaissance” International Fund within the framework of the joint initiative “European Renaissance of Ukraine”.