Dutch Cabinet to ban unhealthy food ads targeting children in plan to fight obesity

The manufacturers and distributors of unhealthy food and drinks will soon be forbidden from targeting children in their marketing campaigns. The Cabinet is working on new rules that will restrict advertising and packaging aimed at children, as part of their plan. The food industry already made agreements to reduce this, "but that self-regulation has not worked well enough," said Public Health State Secretary Maarten van Ooijen.

The government is now working on a ban that will form part of a broader package of measures to combat child obesity. Details of the plan are still being worked out, and could not be released. It is complex because there must be a clear definition of "healthy" and "unhealthy" food, said the state secretary. Healthy food may continue to be advertised to minors. Van Ooijen said he hopes that the stricter rules will be in place within two years' time.

The state secretary also wants to be able to prohibit unhealthy products from being advertised on vending machines in schools. The packaging used for unhealthy food may no longer be designed to appeal to children. That would mean the end to the cheerful cartoon characters that can now often be found on cookies and sweets. Materials for speaking engagements and statements on social media will also be subject to stricter rules, if Van Ooijen gets his way.

Foodwatch Director Nicole van Gemert said that the Cabinet must ensure that there are no loopholes or workarounds to the proposal. She prefers a total ban on advertising such products towards young people without exception. She said she wholeheartedly agrees with the state secretary's assessment that the food and beverage sector has not sufficiently self-regulated.

"The business community says that young children are not allowed on social media, but that is nonsense. Everyone knows that children are on social media. I think we filed 14 complaints against child marketing last year. We won all of them, but there are no consequences. There is no enforcement because there is no law," Van Gemert said.

Marjon Bachra, who heads of healthy lifestyle advocacy JOGG said Van Ooijen's plans are "an incredibly good step, but not nearly enough. We are far from finished." Bachra called his plan "super super super positive," but noted that it has taken a long time for the stricter step. "But this is just one of the things that needs to happen. This is part of a bigger picture."

The Cabinet also wants to give municipalities the legal power to limit the sale of fast food around schools. If there are already many snack bars or other fast food providers in a certain area, the municipality should be possible to prohibit the establishment of similar new businesses. There will also be more money for preventing and tackling overweight and obesity rates in both children and adults.

Because unhealthy living is about more than just snacks for children, a solution cannot come from Van Ooijen alone, said Bachra. "It's also about the design of new neighbourhoods. Are there sufficient play facilities, for example, and are the sidewalks wide enough to play outside? It's also about what happens at schools. A few weeks ago, people talked about free lunches at schools. It's not like they're automatically healthy."

In addition, parents themselves also have a responsibility. Bachra said, "If consumers ask for more healthy products, supermarkets jump in. But parents sometimes have other things on their mind. More and more people live in poverty."

The JOGG director said she recently spoke to a single father of four. "He said, 'I'll give them a bag of chips, I can afford that and they won't be hungry.'"