A strategic session on marketing regulation to protect the rights of children and adolescents from the impact of junk food
advertising was held On Thursday, April 25, 2024, an online strategic session “The Problem of Marketing Regulation to Protect the Rights of Children and Adolescents from the Impact of Junk Food Advertising” was held. The purpose of the event was to get acquainted with the principles, methods and practices of regulating food advertising for children and adolescents in the European Union. Representatives of the State Tax Service of Ukraine and their territorial branches, the Ministry of Health of Ukraine, the National Council on Television and Radio Broadcasting, advertisers and the scientific community, in total – more than 50 participants were invited to the discussion.
The attendees presented the main tasks of marketing regulation to protect children’s rights from the impact of junk food advertising, outlined the markers of unhealthy food for children and adolescents, discussed the digital challenges of marketing regulation and self-regulatory practices of marketing regulation.
Project expert, Doctor of Economics, Professor Natalia Savytska, Head. Department of Marketing, Reputation Management and Customer Experience of the State Biotechnological University, focused on the target tasks of marketing regulation to protect children’s rights from the impact of junk food advertising. She stressed that the focus of such tasks is on three main issues: definition of concepts; junk food markers; Choice of regulatory policy. Therefore, the basic concepts need to be regulated by law, as they differ in different directives and codes, as well as in national EU legislative documents. Different interpretations relate to the most discussed terms and their content: marketing; digital marketing; marketing channels for the distribution of messages, the time of release of advertising; children; Teens; regulatory policy; junk food, etc.
There is also an ongoing debate about 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 children’s rights protection are the World Health Organization, the Food Agriculture Organization United Nations, the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC). Self-regulatory organizations such as the European Advertising Standards Alliance (EASA) play an important role. Today, there is a discussion about the effectiveness of self-regulatory practices. Ukraine needs to study the best practices of international practices, compare them with its own experience and make a decision on regulation in protecting the rights of children from advertising of unhealthy food.
Expert, Head of the NGO “Nutrition and Quality of Life”, Doctor of Technical Sciences, Professor Viktoriia YEVLASH, Head. Department of Chemistry, Biochemistry, Microbiology and Food Hygiene of the State Biotechnological University, focused on the issues of determining markers of unhealthy food for children and adolescents. She noted that noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) are the leading cause of death worldwide, and Ukraine is no exception. Among NCDs, 4 groups of diseases have the most specific weight: cardiovascular diseases, malignant neoplasms, diabetes mellitus and obesity. Particularly dangerous factors in the nutrition of children and adolescents are: salt, processed dietary fats containing tras-form and sugar. The WHO considers “junk food” as foods that are high in calories, salt, sugar, and fat (saturated and trans fats) but lack nutrients, vitamins, and minerals. Most “junk food” falls into 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 for Legal Affairs of Publicis Groupe Ukraine, focused the attention of the audience on the legislative framework governing the advertising of unhealthy food and aimed at children and adolescents. The expert also emphasized the peculiarities of the regulation of advertising in the digital sphere in the EU. The relevance is determined by the active presence of modern children in the digital space. There is the Audiovisual Services Directive, which in Articles 9 and 28 mentions the protection of children from the marketing of unhealthy foods. 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 forbidden to process children’s data for commercial purposes, i.e. for the purpose of conveying information about food products
An active discussion was held around the issue of the development of self-regulation. Project expert Oleksandr Gladunov, Vice President of the UAFM NGO, stressed the need to study the world’s best practices in the self-regulatory sphere. And also the need for cooperation 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 observe global and European trends in the regulation of junk 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 for the implementation of state policy in the field 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 advertising of unhealthy food”. The project is implemented with the support of the European Union and the International Renaissance Foundation within the framework of the joint initiative “European Revival of Ukraine”.
