The Department of Health (DoH) is to track campaigns, with a focus on the proportion of spend and volume of activity backing products high in fat, sugar and salt.
The research will also monitor content issues, such as the use of celebrities and cartoon characters to appeal to children, and will gauge whether the industry is making good on its promise to introduce voluntary curbs on food and drink advertisers targeting children.
Following the publication of its White Paper on Public Health, the government told the food industry to act by early-2007 or face regulation.
The DoH project will track trends in the sector, including paid-for internet ads, for 12 months from March 2006, with an option to extend the contract by six months.
Non-broadcast promotion is not subject to statutory regulation under Ofcom, which is expected to unveil proposals to track broadcast food ads in the new year.
The DoH is seeking a research company to handle the project, and will shortlist up to seven agencies in mid-January. It will also commission a separate study looking at past trends in the industry.
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