Spanish government to ban advertising of junk food

The Spanish government will ban the advertising of junk food and sugary drinks for children.

The Spanish Minister of Consumption, Alberto Garzon, announced today, October 28, a ban on advertising aimed at children for sweets, cookies, ice cream, sugary beverages and other junk food products rich in sugars and fats considered harmful to health by the World Health Organisation.

Garzon explained that the regulation of this advertising of food aimed at children under 16 years of age on television, the media in general and social networks will be done by royal decree and will begin to apply next year.

Minister Garzon made this announcement at a press conference in Barcelona after meeting with the mayor of the Catalan capital, Ada Colau.

Colau has also announced that the Catalan city council will take measures to combat the overexposure of the child population to the advertising of these foods that harm their health.

The measure also affects drinks, snacks and sauces with added sugars or prepared with more than 225 kcal per 100 grams.

“The work is done. We have the pertinent reports to adapt these nutritional profiles of the World Health Organisation (WHO) to the regulatory system and we have already spoken with the National Commission of Markets and Competition,” said Garzon.

“In Spain, excess weight affects 23.3 per cent and obesity 17.3 per cent. The sum exceeds 40 per cent for children between 6 and 9 years old. These are alarming and worrying figures,” the minister warned.

He also added that these figures are double among the poorest families, according to the Aladino report.

The report also found evidence that the different strategies implemented for more than a decade to reduce childhood obesity, such as the Paos Self-Regulation Code established by the industry itself, has been something “totally insufficient.”

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