Chennai: Having trouble trying to ignore your child’s demands for junk food at the supermarket? Does your kid throw a tantrum when he sees his favorite role model’s face on a wafers packet? With over 80 per cent junk food products today being endorsed by celebrities – sports stars, actors, musicians and the like – expecting children not to get excited is far from impossible. However, nutritionists question the need for famous personalities promoting such products without understanding the harmfulness of the contents in the package.
The New Delhi-based non-government Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), at a conference held in the capital recently, called for the regulation of celebrity endorsement of foods high in salt, sugar, or fat, pointing out that an expert panel on the Consumer Protection Act 2015, to replace the existing law, has recommended measures to tackle misleading advertisements and fix liability on celebrities.
“Celebrities do not know the exact nature of the content that is available in the package. They merely accept the offer to be the face of a product and the information provided on the package is far from adequate, making it even harder for them to follow,” said Amit Kurana, programme manager, Food Safety and Toxins, CSE.
Stating that it is unfair to have famous personalities who lack understanding of the dangers of a particular product endorsing it, Chennai-based nutritionist Dr Dharini Krishnan said, “It is essential that the celebrities who are requested to endorse the product are made aware of the contents of that particular item. Some of them are very valued people. If they are educated about the contents, they may refrain from promoting it.”
“Education related to health is very low in India. We may know that burger, pizzas and aerated drinks are not good. However, there are so many nuances of health, which many, including the educated lot, know nothing about. Those who stick to tradition are still safe, while those who give in to peer pressure are in deep trouble,” added the expert. With a large percentage of mothers found to be obese today, the need for education to begin at home is felt highly essential by health experts.
“It is not just the children who blindly trust their role model’s words on a particular product. Adults do it too,” said Rajesh Sagar, head, department of psychiatry, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Delhi. “Why are brands so insecure that they need celebrities to endorse their products?” he questioned. In the wake of recent issues around celebrity endorsements and realising the need to fix accountability, the expert committee on the Consumer Protection Bill, 2015, aiming to replace the current Act, has recommended stringent measures to tackle misleading advertisements and fixing liability on endorsers or celebrities.
‘Ads attract children to demand junk’
With obesity among children in the country on the rise, the need to keep a check on junk food consumption among youngsters has been found highly essential by doctors and other health experts. The way products are advertised is seen as the main factor attracting children into buying or demanding unhealthy food items. “The influence of advertisements on children in using junk food is higher when their role models endorse it,” said Rajesh Sagar, head, department of psychiatry, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Delhi.
“Children have a risk-taking behaviour and therefore find the need to explore everything that is new in the market. Celebrities serve as a wrong model for children by being part of such promotions. Government should take action to ban such advertisements of products that are unhealthy for children,” said Dr Nambi a well-known psychiatrist.
Adoration, a common factor among the present generation, makes it hard to resist when the children see their role models advertise a certain product. “Celebrities should refrain from advertising such items on the commercial front as it is unhealthy, leading to the rise in the burden of obesity among children in our country,” said Dr Rekha, head of the department of paediatrics at a Government Hospital in Jammu and Kashmir.
Advertising companies have been found to try everything possible to lure children through colourful packaging and gifts which come along with the junk food. Items, which are lower in price, tend to attract not only children, but also parents, in choosing them. “Shopkeepers tend to put everything in the eye-line of the child. Candies and other junk foods in retail stores stand as an example for this. With products that are not expensive displayed near payment counters of these stores, children press their parents to add these products to their purchase,” commented Jane Moses, sales manager, Zomato, on the gambit of shopkeepers.
