7 June 2011 - EVENT - Marketing to Children. Implications for Obesity

The UK Association for the Study of Obesity (ASO) is running a one day event on 'Marketing to Children: Implications for Obesity' in London on the 7th June. The topic is very timely given the responsibility deal and the general changes to health outlines in the white paper. The morning is particularly interesting as it has the science including studies that demonstrate that young children may not be able to discriminate advertising, particularly in new media, but are influenced by it, that advertising shifts attentional bias to food, and that the Ofcom regulation is not effective at reducing the promotion of high fat, sugar, salt foods during children's peak viewing times. Speakers will be available for interview on the day (some of them are doing a pre-record for BBC Radio 4's 'All in the Mind' to be broadcast the same day).

Conference Programme

Morning session: Influence of and Exposure to the Marketing Message

Chair Dr Jason Halford, University of Liverpool

09.15 Registration and refreshments

09.30 Welcome

ASO Awards - Student Researcher 2011 Young Achiever 2011

10.00 Conference introductions - Dr Jason Halford

10.10 Children’s understanding of advertising - Mark Blades, University of Sheffield

10.40 Implicit processing of brand images - Prof Charlie Lewis, University of Reading

11.10 Extent of television exposure to food advertising and influence on eating behaviour - Emma Boyland, University of Liverpool

11.40 Refreshments

12.05 Monitoring internet advertising - Morag Blazey, Billetts Marketing Investment Management, London

12.35 Quantifications of the impact of food advertising on diet and health - Geogina Cairns, University of Sterling

13.05 Lunch

Afternoon session: Science in Policy : Implications for marketing - Chair tbc

13.50 Industry perspectives on marketing policy - Chris Holmes, Director of Behaviour Change, Scintillate

14.20 Developing voluntary principles on marketing - Jane Landon, National Heart Forum

14.50 Nutrient profiling and regulation : possibilities and pitfalls - Mike Rayner, University of Oxford

15.20 Marketing to children : principles, policy and practice - The POLMARK and STANMARK Projects

Tim Lobstein, IASO and International Obesity Task Force

FAB Comment:

Scientific presentations include coverage of studies that demonstrate (1) that young children may not be able to discriminate advertising, particularly in new media, but are influenced by it, (2) that advertising shifts attentional bias to food, and (3) that the Ofcom regulation is not effective at reducing the promotion of High Fat Sugar Salt foods during children's Peak viewing times.

This topic is very timely given the implications of the 'Responsibility deal' (aimed at encouraging purely voluntary agreements between government and industry on key public health issues, rather than regulation or the use of taxation policy) and the general changes to food and health policy outlined in the government's white paper late last year.

See http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/nov/12/mcdonalds-pepsico-help-health-policy and http://www.fabresearch.org/1573.