Maybe
Ian Twinn, director of public affairs, ISBA
For good-practice codes to work they have to be clear, achievable and meet a business need.
There may be a place for guidelines covering the whole of the marketing process from product innovation, through packaging, labelling, in-store policies and beyond.
Government has a social agenda to encourage healthy diets and healthy lifestyles. Advertisers support the objective but are less convinced that marketing is the root cause of the problem or that defining 'less healthy foods' is a meaningful concept in isolation from lifestyle.
Even then there are at least twomajor problems. First, the advertising industry's self-regulation system is well-established and it works. It would confuse matters to overwrite the codes.
This brings me to the second issue - the ad regulations and food-labelling rules are a reflection of EU laws. There is little scope for EU countries to go it alone. To maintain the advantages of a European single market, the govern-ment should be careful not to under-mine UK competitiveness.
Maybe
Meera Chandra, managing director, Syzygy London
As marketers, it's all too easy to view codes as restrictive and frustrating, and even having a negative impact on brands. It's tempting to see this move as the latest in a long line of confusing codes and guidelines, but we should err on the side of caution where marketing and children are concerned.
Childhood obesity is a real and present problem that isn't going away. After all, the consumer must come first.
The DoH has pledged a thorough and comprehensive review, and I hope it will deliver. Traditional advertising is subject to a range of regulations but, like us, children now have a wider and more disruptive set of touchpoints that should be taken into account.
We do need to take a responsible approach to food marketing. Brands and agencies should focus on the single-minded ethical intent behind the code and respond with the transparency it calls for.
Provided lessons have been learned from recent guideline initiatives, and the new code delivers clarity, rather than confusion, the exercise will be worthwhile.
No
Anthony Edwards, communications planning director, Euro RSCG London
What we need is consistency with the other codes. This initiative, which looks to address all parts of the marketing mix, not just advertising and promotion, is a step in the right direction.
The real question, however, is whether increasing restrictions on the marketing of less-healthy foods is treating the symptoms or the cause of obesity.
Change4Life is a clear attempt to influence consumer behaviour and attitudes, but educating people is only half of the equation. Until the economics of creating and distributing unhealthy products changes, they will continue to be abundantly available.
To tackle obesity properly, legislation is needed to make the worst-offending foods less abundant and available. There should be no more multipacks or much higher taxes on them.
In tandem, there is a need to create incentives and motivate companies to create and make available healthy alternatives. Perhaps this could be achieved through a tax break for developing and stocking healthier alternatives.
Maybe
David Goudge, managing director, Brand Development
A transparent and consistent code of conduct can only be a good thing. We need to get a grip on child obesity and diabetes, and we need to do it soon.
Existing codes that target bad fats, discourage the excessive use of sugar and encourage clearer nutritional labelling have already paid dividends by stimulating responsible marketers to focus on delivering better nutrition.
However, attempts to put temptation totally beyond a child's reach are not likely to succeed. It might reduce the pestering, but how high do naughty foods need to be before they are out of the eye-line of a five-year-old child, never mind a 12-year-old? Making them less accessible will only make them even more desirable.
Thanks to schools, children are often more nutritionally aware than the parents. Perhaps instead of introducing further codes, the government ought to focus its efforts on empowering parents and helping them understand what constitutes a healthy and balanced diet.