Companies propose limits on junk-food ads for kids

Associated Press

WASHINGTON

The nation’s largest food companies say they will cut back on marketing nonhealthful foods to children, proposing their own set of advertising standards after rejecting similar guidelines proposed by the federal government.

A coalition of food companies — including General Mills, ConAgra Foods and Kellogg — announced the guidelines Thursday. The companies said the effort will vastly change what is advertised, forcing them to curb advertising on one out of three products currently marketed to children.

The new standards, which will allow companies to advertise food and beverage products to children if they meet certain nutritional criteria, could force some brands to change recipes to include less sodium, fat, sugars and calories. Though many companies have trumpeted their own efforts to market more healthful foods to kids, the agreement would apply the same standards to all of the participating companies.

“Now foods from different companies, such as cereals or canned pastas, will meet the same nutrition criteria, rather than similar but slightly different company- specific criteria,” said Elaine Kolish of the Children’s Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative, a group formed by the industry to address marketing issues.

The group’s proposal was pushed along by a government effort to do the same thing. The Federal Trade Commission and several other government agencies were directed by Congress to come up with voluntary guidelines for marketing junk food to children, and those were issued earlier this year. The industry balked at that proposal, saying the voluntary standards were too broad and would limit marketing of almost all of the nation’s favorite foods, including some yogurts and many children’s cereals.

Not surprisingly, the proposal issued by the government is stricter than the standards the companies are pushing for themselves.