Disney to banish junk-food ads from kid shows

CANDICE CHOI

J.M. HIRSCH

Asso­ci­ated Press

NEW YORK — Dis­ney says its pro­gram­ming will no longer be spon­sored by junk food.

The Walt Dis­ney Co. said Tues­day that it will become the first major media com­pany to ban such ads for its TV chan­nels, radio sta­tions and web­sites intended for chil­dren. That means kids watch­ing Sat­ur­day morn­ing children’s shows on Disney’s ABC net­work will no longer see ads for fast foods and sug­ary cere­als that don’t meet company’s nutri­tion standards.

The guide­lines won’t go into effect until 2015 because of exist­ing adver­tis­ing agreements.

First Lady Michelle Obama called the announce­ment a “game changer” in a statement.

“With this new ini­tia­tive, Dis­ney is doing what no major media com­pany has ever done before in the U.S. — and what I hope every com­pany will do going for­ward,” Obama said.

Dis­ney says its guide­lines are aligned with fed­eral stan­dards to pro­mote the con­sump­tion of fruits and veg­eta­bles and reduce the intake of sodium, sugar and sat­u­rated fat.

The kids’ meals offered by tra­di­tional fast-food chains may not meet the new adver­tis­ing guide­lines, even if the meals come with healthy side orders, says Leslie Good­man, Disney’s senior vice pres­i­dent of cor­po­rate cit­i­zen­ship. That’s because Dis­ney will be assess­ing the restaurant’s broader offer­ings in decid­ing whether to approve ads.

“It’s not just about refor­mu­lat­ing a meal for a sin­gle adver­tis­ing oppor­tu­nity,” Good­man said. The com­pany will have to show it offers a broader menu of health­ier options, she said.

For exam­ple, a com­plete meal under Disney’s guide­lines could have no more than 600 calo­ries and a side dish no more than 200 calories.

With­out nam­ing spe­cific com­pa­nies, Good­man said there are ads cur­rently run­ning on Dis­ney chan­nels that would not meet the new standards.

Dis­ney CEO Bob Iger said there might be a short-term reduc­tion in adver­tis­ing rev­enue, but that he hopes com­pa­nies will even­tu­ally cre­ate prod­ucts that meet the stan­dards so they don’t have to avoid adver­tis­ing with Disney.

Pub­lic health and child­hood obe­sity experts cau­tioned that the effec­tive­ness of any ban will be in how junk food is defined by the com­pany. Pre­vi­ous attempts by the food indus­try to reg­u­late mar­ket­ing to chil­dren have been crit­i­cized as being too gen­er­ous in which prod­ucts were allowed.

But Aviva Must, chair­woman of the Depart­ment of Pub­lic Health and Com­mu­nity Med­i­cine at Tufts School of Med­i­cine, said Dis­ney could suc­ceed where gov­ern­ment thus far has made lit­tle progress.

“There seems to be lim­ited taste for gov­ern­ment reg­u­la­tion,” said Must, who has stud­ied child­hood obe­sity for decades. “So I think a large com­pany like Dis­ney tak­ing a stand and putting in a pol­icy with teeth is a good step.”

Margo Wootan, nutri­tion pol­icy direc­tor at the Cen­ter for Sci­ence in the Pub­lic Inter­est, said that while some snack foods of lim­ited nutri­tional value may still be adver­tised, the worst of the junk foods will be elim­i­nated under the new policy.

She hopes Disney’s deci­sion trig­gers sim­i­lar changes with other companies.

“Disney’s announce­ment really puts a lot of pres­sure on Nick­elodeon and Car­toon Net­work and other media to do the same,” she said.

The lat­est push by Dis­ney is an exten­sion of the inter­nal nutri­tion guide­lines the com­pany launched in 2006, with the goal of mak­ing 85 per­cent of the food and drinks served at its parks and resorts healthy. The remain­ing 15 per­cent was reserved for spe­cial treats, such as cake for birth­day cel­e­bra­tions. The com­pany also stopped using toys in kids meals to adver­tise its movies, Iger said.

Vis­i­tors to parks and resorts were also given the option of trad­ing out soda and fries for low-fat milk and fruit. Dis­ney says 60 per­cent of the meals served are now with those health­ier options.

The com­pany on Tues­day also intro­duced its “Mickey Check” seal of approval for nutri­tious foods sold in stores, online and at its parks and resorts.

“The emo­tional con­nec­tion kids have to our char­ac­ters and sto­ries gives us a unique oppor­tu­nity to con­tinue to inspire and encour­age them to lead health­ier lives,” Iger said.

Posted by AP News on Jun 5 2012. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS Feed. Comments can be made below.