Ads for harmful products, such as gambling, alcohol, and junk food, are everywhere. They can invade our daily lives.
They’re on our social media feeds, sports grounds, billboards, train stations, and bus stops.
They are almost impossible to avoid, including for children, even though we know that when children are exposed to alcohol and gambling advertising, they are more likely to start using these products at higher risk levels.
Research also shows unhealthy food advertising has a powerful influence on children, shaping what our kids eat, want, ask for, and spend their pocket money on. Gambling, alcohol and unhealthy food companies also gather and draw on a lot of our personal data. They use this information to create ads that target people, encouraging them to buy more. This makes it hard for people trying to cut back.
Companies spend hundreds of millions on their marketing because they know how powerful it is. They sell an idealised and glamorised experience of their products – products that cause harm.
These products lead to higher rates of cancer, liver disease, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, mental ill health and financial hardship in the community.
Right now, gambling, alcohol and unhealthy food companies can mostly set their own advertising rules. They decide where, when, and how to promote their harmful products.
A future with less of these ads means scrolling our feed without being followed by alcohol ads, sport on the weekend becomes about the game, not the odds, and our kids can catch the bus without having fast food logos in their faces.
Limiting advertising for alcohol, gambling and unhealthy food would also significantly reduce the burden of cancer, liver disease, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, addiction and financial harm across the community.
Without comprehensive protections that cover every aspect of their marketing, we know that gambling, alcohol and unhealthy food companies will do whatever they can to get around existing, weak rules.
That’s why we need a new piece of legislation: a Harmful Products Marketing Act.
This law will set clear rules on how gambling, alcohol, and unhealthy food companies can promote their products. So that our health comes first, not industry profit.
Our government can take this chance to make a difference that will last generations.
The Harmful Products Marketing Act would be modelled on the world-leading laws introduced in Australia around tobacco advertising in the 1990s. Those laws have gone a long way to reduce harm from smoking in the last 30 years.
The Harmful Products Marketing Act would be designed to regulate advertising of products including gambling, alcohol and unhealthy foods. It would set the rules for advertising on all platforms, including online, newspapers, billboards and TV.
Under the existing system, gambling, alcohol and unhealthy food companies are largely left to ‘self-regulate’. That is, to make their own rules about where, when and how they can advertise.
The end result is that profit is prioritised over community wellbeing.
It’s time for the Federal Government to shield our community from the onslaught of marketing from harmful industries.
Our community stood up against the tobacco industry. We can lead the world-once again.
When we talk about “unhealthy foods” for the purpose of regulating harmful product marketing, we’re referring to foods that are high in saturated fat, salt, and/or added sugars – foods that the Australian Dietary Guidelines recommend limiting.
A similar approach of defining unhealthy foods has been used successfully internationally in order to restrict advertising (for example in the United Kingdom).
A Federal Harmful Product Marketing Act would be supported by regulations defining the exact criteria of what constitutes “unhealthy food” to ensure certainty. These would be set with advice from the Health Department and experts.
This campaign is an initiative of FARE, in association with the Alliance for Gambling Reform, the Food for Health Alliance and VicHealth.
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