Written by Michi Furuya Chang, MHSc, RD, Executive Vice President, Public Policy, Regulatory Affairs, and Head, of Divisional Strategy, Food, Health & Consumer Products of Canada

Published on June 24, 2024

In our fast-paced, electronic world, news articles often come and go in the blink of an eye. But every so often, an item catches your attention and demands a response. A recent, (June 11) article in the Lobby Monitor, “No set timeline for rules on advertising food to kids, Health Canada says, as advocates push for imminent release,” is a clear example of this as much for what it says as what it doesn't. Specifically, that while we all share in the government’s goal for responsible and meaningful advertising-to-children practices, a solution already exists and it's working.

Since 2015, the mandate letters of successive health ministers have consistently reflected the government’s commitment to promote responsible advertising of food and beverage products to children. Industry listened to the government and acted to establish a national standard with the aim of restricting advertising to children of food and beverages that exceed government specified thresholds of nutrients of concern.

A coalition of Canada’s largest advertisers, food and beverage brands, and manufacturers, alongside restaurants, took meaningful steps to meet the government’s commitment based on mandate letters’ directives. After four years of extensive dialogue with the government and a diversity of stakeholders, Food, Health & Consumer Products of Canada, the Association of Canadian Advertisers, Canadian Beverage Association, and Restaurants Canada announced the industry Code and Guide for the Responsible Advertising of Food and Beverage Products to Children (“Code and Guide”) on June 28, 2021. This Code and Guide was fully implemented last year, on June 28, 2023, with a five-year review in 2028.

The centrepiece of the Code and Guide is the industry’s adoption of the Quebec model for prohibiting advertising to children under 13 years of age, a model that has been in place for 42 years. The Quebec model also inspired the analysis underpinning the determination of whether or not advertising is directed at children. This represents industry’s focused efforts to achieve the shared objective of a comprehensive and workable regime of food and beverage advertising restrictions to children under age 13 that applies to all advertising, in any media, that meets or exceeds Health Canada’s policy recommendations. It also includes the introduction of a robust pre-clearance and enforcement regime administered by Advertising Standards Canada, an independent, not-for-profit organization that has been ensuring responsible and ethical advertising in Canada, including government advertising, for over 60 years.

Why the Code and Guide Should Be Recognized

The Code and Guide, in fact, meets or exceeds all the requirements of government’s policy proposal and offers a turn-key solution with no cost to government and taxpayers. We strongly urge the government to work collaboratively with industry to validate the new Code and Guide, and mandate a review in five years to ensure it meets the goals. This preferred approach would allow the government to meet its mandate in a creative and cost-effective way, allowing it to focus on other pressing and critical matters.

It is astonishing that Bill C-252, an Act to amend the Food and Drugs Act (prohibition of food and beverage marketing directed at children), has been sent to the House Health Committee for study without recognizing the industry’s comprehensive efforts. The Code and Guide provide Health Canada with the opportunity to deliver immediately on one of its top priorities under the Healthy Eating Strategy at no cost to Canadian taxpayers. By adopting the Code and Guide and working collaboratively with industry, the government would pave the way for a practical, well-considered, and meaningful set of advertising standards, leveraging a well-founded like-Quebec solution, which would meet government’s and industry’s shared objectives for responsible food and beverage advertising, and immediately benefit parents and children.

For kids’ sake—let’s give the Code and Guide for the Responsible Advertising of Food and Beverage Products to Children a chance.