Is Ofcom right about junk food ads?
It depends on who you listen to. “Ofcom have absolutely failed to deliver … Whilst Ofcom stalls, the obesity epidemic weighing down our children’s health continues to grow,” says the British Heart Foundation. Meanwhile, the government’s children’s commissioner declares that: “Children have been sold out in the interests of profit.” On the other side, Ofcom is accused of “moving the goalposts” and retreating from evidence-based regulation. The advertising trade body IPA said Ofcom’s proposals were “totally disproportionate” and “scientifically flawed”. No doubt in some part of Ofcom’s collective brain, the fact they are being so vehemently attacked by both sides will be taken as evidence they have got something right. However, there is no doubt that for Ofcom this has been tough and if the health campaigners get their way it’s not over yet.
