Children's minister Margaret Hodge will investigate whether protocols for advertising crisps and sweets should be introduced, in the same vein as the tobacco industry volunteering to stop ads around schools before cigarette advertising was banned.
Hodge told The Observer that children were "hugely influenced" by television ads, and that they promoted "a poor diet". She is backed up by recent research from the University of Strathclyde, which claims to prove the link between TV ads and children eating too much fat, sugar and salt.
Her comments are likely to rekindle the debate between advertisers in the food industry and health campaigners. The move comes just 12 months after Tessa Jowell, secretary of state for culture, media and sport, told a meeting of food manufacturers that there were no plans to ban food ads during children's programming.
Food Standard Agency officials have already visited Sweden to look at its ban on children's advertising, and the agency is due to publish a hard-hitting report in the new year into how children are influenced by advertising.
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