SIR; Browsing the reams of commentary on the Ofcom ban, one could be forgiven for believing that advertisers were the sole perpetrators of blubbery Britain.
That's because advertisers are easy to blame, and consequently advertising is the quickest thing to get rid of. But in reality, junk food advertising can be seen as a symptom of the problem rather than its cause. Long-term, a TV ad ban will benefit nobody.
Britain's rather unkempt social culture is really the core of the snag. Few of us live in family units. Gordon Ramsay was right: a pitiful percentage of families regularly eat together, and many never do at all. Instead, they snack.
In that fact alone lies a solution. Forget Ofcom and cue the Central Office of Information. Look at Britain's family culture and its relationship to snacking and create a permanent paradigm shift in the way we all eat. TV advertising might be a useful part of it. Revise working time directives. Invite retailers to participate in schemes offering positive incentives to eat as one. And slowly but permanently negate the need to munch on the side. A reduction in demand for high fat, sugar and salt foods would therefore be driven by public want rather than regulatory dictum.
Nobody need suffer. Food manufacturers would, as always, respond to the trend with creative product development (albeit more radically than a new flavour or brand extension) but with much more time to consider, re-jig and adjust. And advertising folk like me can ply it with the usual flair.
That's because advertisers are easy to blame, and consequently advertising is the quickest thing to get rid of. But in reality, junk food advertising can be seen as a symptom of the problem rather than its cause. Long-term, a TV ad ban will benefit nobody.
Britain's rather unkempt social culture is really the core of the snag. Few of us live in family units. Gordon Ramsay was right: a pitiful percentage of families regularly eat together, and many never do at all. Instead, they snack.
In that fact alone lies a solution. Forget Ofcom and cue the Central Office of Information. Look at Britain's family culture and its relationship to snacking and create a permanent paradigm shift in the way we all eat. TV advertising might be a useful part of it. Revise working time directives. Invite retailers to participate in schemes offering positive incentives to eat as one. And slowly but permanently negate the need to munch on the side. A reduction in demand for high fat, sugar and salt foods would therefore be driven by public want rather than regulatory dictum.
Nobody need suffer. Food manufacturers would, as always, respond to the trend with creative product development (albeit more radically than a new flavour or brand extension) but with much more time to consider, re-jig and adjust. And advertising folk like me can ply it with the usual flair.
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