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The industry has reacted strongly to the suggestion of a ban of any sort aimed at snack food advertisers, arguing that such a move would be excessive, unnecessary and ineffective.

The policy paper, which is due to be introduced to Parliament by Health Minister John Reid, is expected to call for a ban to be introduced in 2007 should the industry not self-regulate advertising on television during times when children watch.

Such a ban could include either a total ban on advertising unhealthy food to children until a 9pm watershed or a ban out of school hours until the watershed, and could potentially cost the media industry millions in lost revenue each year.

Jeremy Preston, director of the food advertising unit at the Advertising Association, said: “A ban on pre-watershed television advertising for certain foods would be a short-term, populist and disproportionate response which is unlikely to have much impact on the problem of obesity.

“The industry supports strict rules on advertising and is prepared to discuss with Ofcom ways in which the food rules in the Television Advertising Code could be tightened up.”

A spokesman for the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising said that a Government ban was something that could be avoided with proper consultation between the Government and the industry: “We feel that bans are ineffective, and while we recognise the problem and applaud any measures to combat the issue, we don’t feel that bans are a way forward.”

Nick Lawson, joint managing director at MediaCom, said the threat of legislation was overkill for an industry that is involved in its own self-regulation.

“In our experience, advertisers advertising snack foods show great responsibility already,” he said.

“Most advertisers have their own quite strict regulations anyway.”

Major advertisers under threat include McDonald’s – which has already taken steps to counter criticismby overhauling its menu to introduce healthy eating options including salads and individual packets of fruit – and snack food maker Walker’s, which has introduced a walk-ometer scheme to encourage children to exercise more frequently.

FMCG giant Kraft, manufacturer of Terry’s Chocolate Orange and Dairylea cheese, has also introduced a scheme to get children interested in cooking healthy foods.

The IPA spokesman added: “We believe this issue is about education primarily and that there is no such thing as bad foods – just bad diets – and we are looking to work with Ofcom and be part of the solution in terms of using the advertising medium to educate people.”

Steve Booth, chief executive at BLM, which holds the Domino’s Pizza media account, thought the introduction of regulation on food advertising was taking legislation too far and that both the food and advertising industries should be left to deal with these issues internally.

“It is a concern that we are in danger of being over-regulated.

What we need are very sensible and appropriate levels of self-regulation,” Booth said.

“We need to be calm and have a sense of proportion,” he added.

“After all, no food is inherently bad. We have to find out what’s workable, what’s practicable and even what’s legal.

“There are certain types of ads that need to be legislated to see what time of day they can run. But this is food, for goodness sake; people should have the choice.”

Culture secretary Tessa Jowell has previously indicated that the Government would not introduce a ban on advertising junk food to children.

Ofcom conducted a survey earlier this year that included the responses from 2,000 children, parents, teachers and nutritionists investigating the impact of advertising on childhood health and obesity.

The results suggested that advertising had minimal effect on children’s health.

An Ofcom spokesman said that it was waiting before commenting on the issue of a television ban: “Ofcom published its research and conclusions on food advertising to children in July. We will wait until we see the white paper before making further comment”.

The AA’s Preston added: “The real issue which needs to be addressed is how to achieve behavioural change to ensure there is a balance between food intake and energy expenditure levels.

“The food and advertising industries can play a part in this and have presented proposals to the Government.”

By Mark Banham and James Livesley

Media Week comment

Despite media minister Tessa Jowell’s signals, it looks like the Government is going to restrict TV advertising after all.

If the leaks around today’s white paper are to be believed, so-called unhealthy foods may be banished to advertising beyond the 9pm watershed only.

The move offers further evidence that advertising is on the ropes. First came tobacco, now unhealthy food.

The advertising industry, already heavily regulated, makes a massive contribution to the UK economy. Once again, that appears to count for nothing.

Timeline

July 2003: Watchdog the Food Commission calls for stricter controls onarketing high-calorie food to children.

September 2003: A report by the Centre for Social Marketing at the University of Strathclyde, commissioned by the Food Standards Agency, finds that advertising strongly influences what children want to eat.

May 2004: Commons health committee questions industry’s ability to regulate itself and calls on Ofcom to review role of Advertising Standards Authority.

June: Doctors at the British Medical Association’s annual conference back a motion “that all commercial food ads aimed at under-12s should be banned”.

July: Ofcom concludes advertising has a “modest direct effect” on children’s food consumption, ruling out an outright ban on food advertising to children.