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Last Chance to Take Action on Food Marketing

July 14, 2011
 

 

Today is the final day to tell the Federal Trade Commission and other federal agencies to implement principles designed to curb the amount of unhealthy food that's marketed to our kids. Below is a guest story written by PreventObesity.net co-director Marty Kearns, who is asking readers of The Inside Trackto take action to support these commonsense guidelines:
 
Today is our last day to stand up to aggressive food marketers and tell the federal government that we value the health of our kids above all else.
 
 
I’m a dad, and I know how tough it can be to promote healthy habits at home when marketers target our kids at every turn. That’s why you and I need to take a stand, NOW, to protect our kids from being targeted by the food and beverage industry. As a parent, I should be able to raise my children on healthy foods, without them being influenced by outside forces pushing fast foods and high-sugar beverages and cereals they don’t need.
 
This is our chance to push back against the billions of dollars spent on marketing to kids. The Federal Trade Commission and a coalition of other agencies have proposed voluntary marketing guidelines to reduce the marketing of unhealthy foods and beverages to kids. They’re currently seeking public feedback, but we only today left to chime in.
 
The proposed principles are a commonsense measure that will help parents like me in our efforts to provide a healthy environment for our children. But the industry sees them as a threat to their bottom line and has launched a massive campaign against them.
We can fight back by telling the government that these marketing guidelines are vital to improving the long-term health of our nation’s children.
 
But we’ve only got today to weigh in.
 
 
If enough of us stand up together in support of these commonsense principles, we can make our voices heard for our kids. -Marty Kearns

 

Food Marketing