It's been awhile since I've hammered on England, the Country Where Nothing Is Allowed, so I thought I'd take a look and see what's new there. Not much, unfortunately.
According to this article, the Food Standards Agency (?) in England has decided that cheese - regular, ordinary cheese, not the fake stuff, or the kind sprinkled on Cheetos - should be classified as a "junk food" for the purposes of advertising, and commercials for it will not be allowed during children's programming, or "those with a large proportion of young viewers."
1. How the hell do you determine which programs have a "large proportion of young viewers", and what exactly is the specific "proportion" anyway? As usual, the government over there provides some vague and undefined guideline, and private industry is supposed to figure out the intent. Oh wait, the BBC is government owned and controlled, as well. Never mind, they'll just fall into line, if they know what's good for them.
2. What kind of a ridiculous governmental structure has a hierarchy where a food agency decides what commercials are shown on TV? That would be comparable to this country's FDA telling the FCC what it can allow companies to advertise. It just makes no sense, although I guess sense isn't the primary motive here, control is.
3. What is British television going to do for income when the food companies finally throw up their hands and refuse to advertise at all? Just tax their citizens even more, I suppose. British viewers currently have to pay a yearly tax of approximately $200 for each color set they own. To refuse to pay is a criminal offense, and non-watchers are apparently harrassed and accused by the government regularly of being cheats. They actually employ people whose sole job is to drive around and attempt to catch people watching unlicensed TVs.
Oh, and if you think cheese is being "singled" out, (Kraft singles, get it? Sorry.) here are some of the other foods which made the junk food list, and can't be shilled for during kid's shows:
instant oatmeal
peanuts, cashews and pistachios
peanut butter
raisins
currants
bran flakes
reduced calorie mayonnaise!
lemonade
You get the idea.
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1 comment:
Simple really. If you call food that actually might be good for you "junk food" then , obviously, the kids will flock to eat it. [/sarcasm]
Just one more reason I am glad to be an American.
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