‘They are concocting clickbait hypotheticals’: Health minister bites back at junk food ad claims
The South Australian Minister for Health has hit back at the Australian Association of National Advertisers, following yesterday’s claims that “humble pantry staples” are included in the state’s recently introduced ban on junk food advertising.
The ban came into effect yesterday, July 1, and prohibits advertising of junk food on government assets across Adelaide, including buses, trams, and trains.
It has long been met with resistance from national advertising bodies including the AANA and OMA, which have claimed it “will be ineffective”.
Yesterday, the AANA criticised it once again, arguing that the definition of ‘junk food’ and the eligibility criteria are unclear. It said staples like fortified soy milk and rice cakes have been included in the ban.
The South Australian Government has now hit back, arguing that plain rice cakes and unsweetened soy milk ads are not banned under the policy.
In a statement to Mumbrella, South Australia’s Minister for Health, Chris Picton, rejected the AANA’s claims.
“Unfortunately the advertising industry lobbyists have opposed these junk food restrictions from the beginning. Because they can’t win the actual argument about junk food advertising they are concocting spurious clickbait hypotheticals instead,” he said in the statement.
“The SA Government will continue to take public health advice from the Cancer Council and Heart Foundation and not advertising industry lobbyists.”
When Mumbrella asked for further clarification, the South Australian Government said drinks with no added sugar and no added artificial sweeteners are permitted.
It should be noted, however, that unsweetened soy milk (made from just soybeans and water) is different to fortified soy milk (enriched with additional nutrients, may contain added sugar).
The SA government hopes to tackle the state’s obesity problem.
According to Preventative Health SA data, 66% of South Australian adults and 37.1% of children are overweight of living with obesity. Obesity puts people at higher risk of health problems including heart disease and type 2 diabetes. South Australia has the highest rate of diabetes in the country.
The policy defines unhealthy food or drink products per the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) Health Council’s ‘National interim guide to reduce children’s exposure to unhealthy food and drink promotion’, a guide created in 2018 for voluntary use by governments. The COAG Health Council’s guide does not have a specific definition itself, only a list of items it does not recommend for promotion.
The advertising body has also previously said that as it stands, “this policy bans all processed meats, which means a simple ham salad sandwich can’t be advertised”. The South Australian government also debunked this, saying that “healthy” ham sandwiches are not included.
It also said advertising concerning Tasting Australia, one of the country’s biggest eating and drinking festivals held in Adelaide, is not banned. Nor is advertising for children’s charities.
“The policy sends a contradictory message to consumers and undermines trust in health-based initiatives,” Josh Faulks, CEO of the AANA, said. “The government is effectively discouraging people from consuming what are widely considered to be nutritious core foods.”
He said the government has not been clear in articulating what is in and what is out of the banned list. Faulks called for the implementation of this policy to be based on credible, evidence-based criteria, which he argued is currently lacking.
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