Advertising Standards Canada releases children's food advertising report
By Adnews Staff
Advertising Standards Canada has released its first annual compliance report on the Canadian Children's Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative. Participants in the initiative agree to not advertise to children under 12 years-of-age, or to shift their advertising to foods and beverages that are considered nutritious. The report covers 2008, the first year of the program. It concludes that the 16 participating companies fulfilled their commitments. Two compliance issues, described by the organization as minor, were discovered and corrected by the participants. "Because participation in the CAI is voluntary, we expected a high degree of compliance," said Linda Nagel, president and CEO of Advertising Standards Canada. "This first report demonstrates that the participating companies successfully met the commitments they set for themselves, even exceeding the original program requirements." According to the report, eight of the company released no advertising aimed at children under 12. The other eight restricted their advertising to that age group to products meeting certain nutritional standards. The participants companies are Burger King Restaurants of Canada, Cadbury Adams Canada, Campbell Canada, Coca-Cola, Ferrero Canada, General Mills Canada, Hershey Canada, Janes Family Foods, Kellogg Canada, Kraft Canada, Mars Canada, McCain Foods Canada, McDonald’s Restaurants of Canada, Nestlé Canada, Parmalat Canada, PepsiCo Canada, Unilever Canada and Weston Bakeries.