Protecting Children Against Harmful Food Marketing in ASEAN

We are constantly bombarded with advertisements, with food-related ones being one of the most common. Left unsupervised, too much exposure to unhealthy food advertisements might have health consequences, especially for children. In line with efforts to tackle malnutrition, ASEAN published a guideline to protect children from harmful food marketing. 

Malnutrition and food marketing

Childhood overweight cases have been increasing over the last decades. In the ASEAN region, over 12 million children under five years old are overweight or obese. These conditions can reduce children’s quality of life and lead to lifelong health impacts, including increasing the risk of cardiovascular diseases and cancer. 

One of the reasons is the high prevalence of highly processed food and sugary drinks. In ASEAN, the average intake of fast food among adolescents aged 12-15 years is reportedly between 1.4 and 4.1 days per week. 

Moreover, children are exposed to rampant unhealthy food marketing through television, social media, and other channels every day. The food and beverage industries spent around USD$33billion advertising their products globally in 2020. These advertisements fuel children’s preferences and consumption of unhealthy food and drinks, leading to obesity and overall unhealthiness.

ASEAN’s guideline

ASEAN countries have declared their commitment to eliminate malnutrition in all forms. In line with this commitment, the region has published a guideline outlining measures to protect children from harmful food marketing through coordinated actions across countries. 

The “ASEAN Minimum Standards and Guidelines on Actions to Protect Children from the Harmful Impact of Marketing of Food and Non-alcoholic Beverages” outlines 12 minimum standards and guidance that the ASEAN countries can apply:

1. Introduce food marketing policies as part of a broad whole-of-systems approach for addressing childhood overweight. 
2. Adopt strong, consistent, and mandatory government legislation, which is more effective than self-regulatory and voluntary approaches.
3. Implement one comprehensive law that covers the full extent of food marketing to which children are exposed. The law should cover various settings and media where marketing can occur.
4. Set clear and measurable short-term, medium-term, and long-term policy objectives. The guideline recommends setting a ‘reduction in exposure and power of unhealthy food marketing to children’ as a short-term policy objective. 
5. Define children as up to 18, aligning with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.
6. Use a broad definition of marketing that will cover various marketing strategies, including, but not limited to, advertising, sponsorship, direct marketing, product placement, and branding. 
7. Define ‘marketing to children’ as all marketing that children are exposed to, regardless of the intended audience.
8. Adopt or adapt an evidence-based food classification system that categorizes food, drinks, and master brands (logos) as ‘permitted’ or ‘not permitted’ for marketing. 
9. Regulate all unhealthy food marketing using a combination of provisions that describe the settings, times, media, and content to which the restrictions apply. 
10. Ensure governance systems steer the legislative process.
11. Prevent and manage potential conflicts of interest in legislative development, implementation, monitoring, and enforcement. 
12. Monitor and enforce legislation to ensure compliance and to measure impact. 

Implementation

In 2010, the World Health Organization called for worldwide action to reduce the harmful impacts of food marketing on children. Several ASEAN Member States have also adopted voluntary industry-led regulations for food marketing. This comprehensive guideline is hoped to strengthen the region’s efforts in protecting its young generations from the risk of unhealthy lifestyles.
Read the full guidelines here.

Editor: Nazalea Kusuma

Kresentia Madina

Reporter at Green Network Asia | Website |  + postsBio

Madina is the Assistant Manager of Stakeholder Engagement at Green Network Asia. She holds a bachelor’s degree in English Studies from Universitas Indonesia. As part of the GNA In-House Team, she supports the organization's multi-stakeholder engagement across international organizations, governments, businesses, civil society, and grassroots communities through digital publications, events, capacity building, and research.

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