Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 18 April 2018

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children and Youth Affairs

Tackling Childhood Obesity: Discussion

9:30 am

Mr. Chris Macey:

We would ask why junk food companies should be marketing to children at all and what good is it doing anybody. It is creating pester power for use by kids against parents. We would ban marketing of unhealthy food and drinks to children under 16. It can be done as it has been done with alcohol and tobacco. It can be done in a digital sense too, and the World Health Organization agrees with this. If a child can be micro-targeted by pressing a button, it can certainly be turned off as well. It may take some regulation of social media platforms as well as marketing and advertising, but it can and must be done. It is good that this is a matter of political will. If politicians want to do this, they can do so. Some matters, such as availability of food, are much more difficult to deal with.