Australia is currently in the grip of a health improvement drive. There is a not quite universal amount of happiness over this move, however. And when it comes to changes most of us consider positive, there are protests that the changes go too far. Most recently, Philip Morris Asia, has claimed that it will take the Australian government to court. Philip Morris aren’t exactly in love with Australia’s witch to brandless cigarette packages. Expected to go ahead in January 2012, the Australian PM has called the plans ‘the right decision’. In her view, Philip Morris and others in the Cigarette industry are merely bullying the government into making a U-Turn it will never make.
Meanwhile, the advertising of unhealthy foodstuffs are getting certain public bodies hot under the collar, as they’re paid to do. Whilst it’s widely accepted that adults should be free to stuff themselves with take away Sutton Australia has something of a reputation for being a nanny state. One issue raised again and again in Australia is the example of video game classification. Since releasing a game without classification is illegal, Australia’s refusal to allow ratings to adult rated games is a barrier to entry for a vast number of titles. So calls from the Australian Medical Association (AMA) to outright ban fast food advertising are perhaps somewhat unsurprising. After all, if Children are at risk from the evils of Indian takeaway Harrow, who can really get all that upset when a nation full of adults won’t have the freedom to choose what they eat?
The problem apparently stems from the Australian Government’s 2009 decree that the fast food industry should be self regulated. It had been hoped by the AMA that companies would stop effectively advertising for children. But instead, they’ve found that self regulation has simply meant even more advertising. The Australian Food and Grocery Council (AFGC) has quickly and ably defended itself. More adverts don’t matter when the number is already insignificant. And it’s not like adverts for Chinese takeaway Harrow are running during Sesame Street. Child obesity is still a problem, and one that hasn’t declined even as the AMA has successfully lobbied for a reduction of fast food advertising aimed at children. To turn round and blame all fast food advertising isn’t seeing the bigger picture at all.
