Push to ban cartoon characters from high-sugar children’s food

FOODS targeted towards children through cartoon characters have massive amounts of sugar, a new analysis has found, with the likes of the Coco Pops monkey now in the sights of the Cancer Council and dietitians.

CARTOON characters are proving way too sweet for Australian children.

An Obesity Policy Coalition analysis of foods aimed at children through the use of cartoon characters reveals huge amounts of sugar, despite guidelines that are supposed to prevent unhealthy products being marketed to children.

The Coco Pops monkey, Frosties’ Tony the Tiger, Yogo’s gorilla and even Scooby Doo are now in the sights of the Cancer Council and dietitians who have submitted a report about the cartoonish practices to the Senate inquiry into childhood obesity.

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While Australian advertising standards state unhealthy foods and drinks should not be directly marketed to children, product packaging is not covered under the self-regulation guidelines.

OPC executive manager Jane Martin said too many companies were exploiting the loophole with fun, colourful characters that are simply a child-friendly code for sugar.

“There is a lot of work going on in schools and early childhood centres and communities to make healthy choices easier, and this undermines those efforts as well as those of parents,” Ms Martin said.

“There is a loophole which allows companies to use these sorts of promotions on children’s food and what this research has found is that a lot of these foods are very high in sugar. The packets are something that children are attracted to in the supermarket.

“We looked at foods that were developed specifically for children — not that children need special foods. They can eat what adults eat.”

Findings of the OPC survey show six out of 10 products featuring cartoons or characters contain more than the Australian Department of Health’s recommended 15 grams of sugar per 100 grams.

The most common cartoon culprits were snack bars, where all 30 surveyed products had excessive amounts of sugar. Of the 41 breakfast cereals examined, 30 had high levels of sugar.

Dairy products featuring characters fared much better, with 17 of the 53 surveyed foods having high levels of sugar — however the category had the worst offenders with the most added sugar.

Chile banned cartoon characters from unhealthy food packaging two years ago and other countries are considering similar measures.

The OPC — which is made up of Cancer Council Vic­toria, Diabetes Victoria, Deakin University’s Global Obesity Centre and VicHealth — is hoping the Senate Select Committee into the Obesity Epidemic will consider doing the same when it reports on August 14.

The Cancer Council’s LiveLighter campaign manager Alice Bastable said it was important to offer children healthier options to prevent their tastebuds being hardwired towards sweet foods, however the allure of animated characters made parents’ jobs even harder.

“These products are targeted at an age group of children where it is particularly important in shaping their food and taste preferences,” she said.

“Children do have their preferences shaped to continue having these sugary foods and they are at high risk of gaining a lot of weight. If you are an overweight or obese child your chance of becoming an overweight or obese adult are very, very high.”

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