Unhealthy food and drink advertising restricted near schools

The outdoor advertising industry has launched a self regulatory campaign to restrict the advertising of discretionary food and drink products on out-of-home signs within a 150 metre sightline of a school, aiming to meet community expectations and support government efforts to tackle overweight and obesity in Australia (140 metres is considered the limit to readability).

Peak industry body Outdoor Media Association (OMA) Chief Executive Charmaine Moldrich notes "almost one in four children is overweight or obese and this complex problem requires a comprehensive set of policies and programs to help Australians lead healthier lives.

"As experts in advertising, we want to use the power of out of home (OOH) to make a real difference.

“The Health and Wellbeing Policy reflects the fact that the out of home industry has listened to the community and government and pro-actively introduced a new voluntary self-regulating code to address what has become a critical issue in Australian society.”

The OMA consulted with the Australian Food & Grocery Council (AFGC), the Australian Association of National Advertisers (AANA), the Cancer Council, Diabetes Australia and the Heart Foundation on the new policy.

AANA Chief Executive, John Broome added “advocating high ethical and professional standards across Australia’s marketing community is at the centre of the AANA’s work and we support the Outdoor industry’s approach to discretionary food and drink advertising.”

The policy includes:

• Discretionary food and drink product advertising to be restricted from areas within 150 metres of primary or secondary schools.

• Food and drink advertising to be based on Australian Dietary Guidelines and the Australian Health Star Rating system.

• $3 million of donated advertising space across Australia every year to feature campaigns supporting healthy diet and lifestyle choices.

• Creative support from the OOH industry to create campaigns to reach the targeted audience.

• Compliance monitoring of the national restrictions with annual reports provided to state and federal governments.

• Annual meetings to be held with key industry stakeholders and health promotion experts to assess the restrictions and the educational programs.

The new policy will come into effect on 1st July 2020.