UK Bans Junk Food Ads to Fight Childhood Obesity; Germany Lags Behind
The UK has taken a bold step to tackle childhood obesity by introducing a ban on junk food advertising. This move, aimed at protecting youngsters from unhealthy influences, has sparked calls for similar action in Germany. However, the German government's plans to implement such a ban have faced delays and opposition.
Currently, there is no advertising ban for unhealthy food in Germany. This lack of regulation has raised concerns, with one in ten UK children already obese by the age of four. The UK government's ban, which restricts advertising of unhealthy foods on TV during children's viewing times and limits influencer marketing to healthy foods, is expected to save billions in NHS treatment costs.
Consumer organization Foodwatch has urged the German government to follow the UK's example. Anne Markwardt from Foodwatch has stated that an advertising ban is a clear task for nutrition minister Alois Rainer (CSU). However, the current black-red coalition government has no plans to introduce such a ban. In the UK, advertisements for unhealthy food can only be shown on TV after 9 PM and are completely banned online. In Germany, around 4.6% of 5 to 17-year-olds were obese in 2023.
While the UK's advertising ban on junk food aims to reduce children's calorie intake by 7.2 billion per year, Germany's government has yet to implement similar regulations. Despite calls for action, the current German coalition has no plans to introduce an advertising ban for junk food, leaving the issue of childhood obesity and its associated health costs unaddressed.
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