Last week, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) jointly released "Perspectives on Marketing, Self-Regulation & Childhood Obesity." The report suggests changes that the food industry should consider in its marketing approach to children to help reduce childhood-obesity rates.
The report resulted from an FTC-HHS workshop during the summer of 2005 that examined the role of the private sector--including food and media companies--in addressing rising U.S. childhood-obesity rates. FTC and HHS plan to monitor the industry's progress in this area. According to a recent FTC-HHS press release, the report includes several recommendations for food manufacturers, including that they:
* Create more new products and reformulate existing lines to lower calories and boost nutrition while making them more appealing to children and more convenient to prepare and eat;
* Help consumers control portion sizes and calories through smaller portions, single-serving packages and other packaging options;
* Explore labeling initiatives, including icons and seals, to clearly identify lower-calorie, nutritious foods in a manner that does not mislead consumers;
* Review and revise marketing practices with the goal of improving the overall nutritional profile of the foods marketed to children;
* Find ways to improve efforts to educate consumers about nutrition and fitness via simple, effective messages;
* Review and revise policies to improve the overall nutritional profile of the products they market and sell in schools.
The report also notes that food companies should intensify their focus when marketing to the racial and ethnic populations where childhood obesity is more prevalent, and that they customize outreach efforts to promote better nutrition to these populations. It also suggests that individual companies, or the food industry as a whole, develop new guidelines that would define minimum nutritional standards for foods marketed to children and shift the focus of those foods to include more nutritious, reduced-calorie foods.
At an undetermined point in the future, one or both of the agencies will issue a follow-up report assessing any industry progress in this area.
To download a copy of the report, see http://www.ftc.gov/reports/index.htm.
