‘I’m so sick of it’: Aussie parent’s plea to brands
An Aussie mum has taken to social media to vent about her kids’ favourite yoghurt. But it’s part of a much larger issue.
An Aussie mum has shared a desperate plea to brands after one too many frustrating trips to the supermarket with her child.
In a video posted to TikTok, lifestyle content creator Elli Tamar shared her stance on the marketing of some of the most popular supermarket yoghurt brands, with Pauls being one that features a picture of cartoon character (and Aussie icon) Bluey.
“I have a personal request on behalf of all parents for the yoghurt companies out there. Can we please, please put Bluey’s face on a healthier brand of yoghurt,” she said.
“I am sick of having to say ‘no’ all the time to this yoghurt when we’re in the supermarket.”
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Ms Tamar said she does her best to choose healthy options for her family. But, sometimes, the fight makes it difficult.
She said she would prefer to see Bluey’s face on yoghurt products that were “just regular Greek yoghurt with a bit of fruit, and not full of sugar”.
“I don’t want to always be the bad guy in the supermarket. I’m happy for Bluey to be on the yoghurt. But, please, put it on the good yoghurt,” she said.
While Ms Tamar did note in the comments that there is nothing inherently wrong with this particular yoghurt – clarifying that it was more about brand preference – her argument around cartoon characters on food packaging is representative of a much larger issue.
Speaking to news.com.au, Deakin University Professor of Public Health Policy Gary Sacks said children are incredibly vulnerable to food marketing – particularly when this marketing involves child-directed characters, like Bluey.
“The use of cartoon characters on product packs has been shown to encourage children to think of these products as tasty, more fun and more appropriate for them,” Prof Sacks said.
Ultimately, when used on “unhealthy” products, this can lead to negative effects in kids.
In a study Prof performed in 2023, alongside a number of other Australian academics, it was found that the vast majority of products using child-directed promotional techniques on their packaging were unhealthy.
More than 80 per cent of the child-directed marketing was on ultra-processed products, and the average health star rating of the products with child-directed marketing was 2.34 (out of 5).
“When these kinds of marketing techniques are used on unhealthy products, it can lead to children having less healthy diets,” he noted.
As for who’s responsible for this, Prof Sachs put the pressure on state and federal governments to implement regulations around what can be used to advertise particular products to kids, and where.
“Unhealthy diets are a major contributor to poor health in Australia, with less than 5 per cent of Australian kids eating in line with dietary recommendations. As a community, we all need to take serious steps to turn this around so that our kids get off to the best possible start in life,” he said.
“There is an important role for food companies to market their products in a responsible way. But evidence shows that our kids are currently exposed to an enormous amount of junk food marketing, and so it’s clear that governments need to step in to protect children from exposure to marketing of unhealthy food.
“They can do this through strong regulations on advertising and other promotion techniques, as has been done in several other countries like the UK and Mexico.”
Currently, there are very few restrictions around this in Australia.
Most recently, unhealthy food and drink ads were banned on government owned buses, trains and trams in South Australia in July this year.
The ACT introduced restrictions on advertising for unhealthy food, alcohol and gambling on all government-run bus services and light rail back in 2015.
In 2019, the Queensland Government announced that it would phase out junk food advertising on state-owned assets. However, the policy has yet to be implemented.
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Originally published as ‘I’m so sick of it’: Aussie parent’s plea to brands
