Food Advertising and Obesity Prevention: What Role for the European Union?

Garde, A.

doi:10.1007/s10603-007-9061-2

Food Advertising and Obesity Prevention: What Role for the European Union?

Garde, A.

Authors

A. Garde

Abstract

When the Television Without Frontiers Directive (TVWF Directive) was first adopted in 1989, there was very little discussion on how food advertising should be regulated at Community level. However, things have changed as a result of rising levels of obesity in all EU Member States. Consequently, several stakeholders have suggested that the advertising of unhealthy food to children should be restricted. This article analyses whether and how, bearing the obesity epidemic in mind, the European Union could regulate the marketing of food high in fat, sugar and salt to children (HFSS food). It starts by presenting the evidence supporting such regulation. It then focuses on the contribution which the TVWF Directive and the Audiovisual Media Services Directive (AVMS Directive) could make to the debate. It finally looks at the broader regulatory framework by discussing their relationship with other instruments of Community law relating to food advertising, and in particular the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive (UCP Directive) and the recently adopted Regulation on nutrition and health claims made on foods.

Citation

Garde, A. (2008). Food Advertising and Obesity Prevention: What Role for the European Union?. Journal of Consumer Policy, 31(1), 25-44. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10603-007-9061-2

Journal Article Type	Article
Publication Date	Mar 1, 2008
Deposit Date	Oct 11, 2010
Publicly Available Date	Oct 5, 2011
Journal	Journal of Consumer Policy
Print ISSN	0168-7034
Electronic ISSN	1573-0700
Publisher	Springer
Peer Reviewed	Peer Reviewed
Volume	31
Issue	1
Pages	25-44
DOI	https://doi.org/10.1007/s10603-007-9061-2
Keywords	Obesity, Food advertising to children, Audiovisual policy, Public health.