OPINION: My dissertation is about food marketing to kids, and every time we go to the grocery store together we see a lot of colorful, cartoon-heavy marketing.
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My 5-year-old daughter is helping me with my PhD thesis. I wish she didn’t have to help me.
No, she’s not a genius, even though she is very smart, and I’m not really asking for much help; she just happens to be an expert in her field.
My nutrition thesis was on food marketing to children, and I see that marketing in action every time we go to the grocery store together: She is drawn like a magnet to the colorful, cartoon-filled packages of tempting sweets, almost all of which are full of saturated fat, sugar, and salt, with almost no nutritional value.
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And of course, most of the items are easily visible to a 5-year-old. There are often long waits, especially in the checkout lines. It’s hard to leave the store without buying something.
My experience with my children is by no means unique; it’s something all parents can probably relate to. Food and drink marketing to children is everywhere, even online, and it’s harming them. Kids are consuming too much junk food, which puts them at increased risk of high blood pressure, diabetes, obesity, heart disease and stroke.
That’s why it’s so important and urgent that the federal government moves forward with its promise to introduce new regulations to restrict such advertising and marketing. Canada needs to do what many other jurisdictions already do to limit children’s exposure to unhealthy food and beverage marketing. This is one very important way to help kids eat and drink healthier products.
This is a promise made by the federal Liberal government when it came to power nine years ago, in 2015. The regulations needed to make this a reality need to be issued now, by the end of June, so that they can be finalized and implemented before next year’s election, and before this important promise goes unfulfilled for a decade.
Informed Opinion
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New regulations are needed now because parents alone cannot cope with this.
I know. I’m still in my 20s, so it wasn’t that long ago when I was a kid and was the target of endless marketing from food and restaurant companies. I realize now that I was heavily influenced by that marketing. My mom was a great cook and always cooked nutritious, delicious home-cooked meals. But when I got some extra money, I wanted to go to the nearest McDonald’s, buy the kids’ menu, and collect the toys that came with it. I couldn’t resist it because McDonald’s made me do it.
Kids today are exposed to more marketing than I ever was, as I see it with my kids. Most Canadians agree: polls show more than seven in 10 Canadians want to see measures put in place to prevent the onslaught of unhealthy food and drink marketing to their children.
Now is the time for the federal government to take children’s health seriously and for the Prime Minister to deliver on his promise to protect Canadian children from the vexation of sophisticated junk food marketing.
Recent experience has shown that even the most dedicated, informed and caring parents cannot overcome the overwhelming influence of ubiquitous marketing. They need the help and support that can come from expected new regulations to limit what marketing activities can take place.
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Luckily, I’m not the only one looking for change.
I am thrilled to join the Heart & Stroke Foundation’s Marketing to Children Youth Council, a group of young professionals who share the same concerns as me about this issue. We are a very diverse group, but we all share first-hand knowledge of the negative impact marketing has had on our own food choices, and are committed to helping empower the next generation to make healthier food and beverage choices.
I hope my daughter will lead the way, and I hope the Prime Minister and his Government will keep the promise they made years ago, when she was born: action needs to be taken now on food sales restrictions.
Qiuyu Julia Chen is a PhD student in Human Nutrition at the University of British Columbia and a member of the Heart & Stroke Marketing to Kids Youth Council.
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