Six-year-old Simon Szalay clutched his Coco Straws defensively as his mother, Eva, explained why she agreed with Ofcom's decision to ban junk food advertising during television shows aimed at children. "This one watches a lot of TV," she said outside a north London branch of Sainsbury's. "He used to like Happy Meals [from McDonald's] because of the adverts with Ronald McDonald. That lasted until I told him the burgers were made with cow poo. But they've been replaced by sugary snacks like these Coco Straws.
"I think its a brilliant idea to ban these adverts because Simon's a victim. He gets obsessed by the colour and bugs me for weeks."
Yesterday, parents interviewed by the Guardian unanimously agreed that Ofcom was right to curb junk food advertising. Tracey Jones, mother of toddlers William and Tom, said the advertisements undermined her attempt to teach healthy eating. "The worst thing is the constant advertising on Channel Five in the afternoon, between the children's programmes," she said. "But I think I've managed to teach them that junk food is a bad idea."
Some children, the interviews revealed, had already been taught that lesson. "Erch, poo," said Ruby Rose, six-year-old daughter of Andrew Rose, in response to being asked what she thought of McDonald's. "Ruby doesn't like junk food," Mr Rose said. "But that's because we've taught them it's bad for them. If we hadn't, advertising would definitely have been a problem. It's on all the time. Its absolutely a good idea for there to be a ban."
Many of the parents argued that Ofcom should have gone further and banned all junk food commercials before 9 o'clock. Catherine West, a mother of two from Islington, north London, said she was worried by the loophole whereby the advertisements would still be shown around programmes such as Coronation Street. "My 11-year old son Galileo watches Coronation Street when he has done his homework and there must be hundreds and thousands more like him. I think the influence of advertising on this age group is very strong. Children do tend to watch a lot more TV in the winter months. My worry is about the children who are vulnerable to obesity, whose parents will let them stay up even later and don't even take notice of what they watch."
Rhona Gibson welcomed the move, but said it was "completely inappropriate" for young children to be exposed to food advertising. She is mother to Rachel, 5 months, and Philip, 3. "Pre-school children like my son don't have money or access to money so I am very cynical about the motives of the advertisers. It is all about pester-power and brand recognition."
