fatvegan

Apparently, the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) was redrafting the Children's Television Standards recently. They decided not to introduce any additional restrictions on marketing junk food to children even though quite a few people would like to see that. That's a valid decision on a number of grounds, but the reasons the chairman of the ACMA actually gave are slightly bollocks. He said that the authority wasn't a health advisory body. Fair enough, but neither is it a product standards advisory body or a sexual ethics advisory body. The job of that kind of authority isn't to advise, it's to take advice from the relevant advisory bodies and apply that advice to communications and media. When all the advisory bodies suggest to it that explosive chia pets are a bad idea, it doesn't claim that it isn't an expert on the chia pet industry. It just pulls explosive chia pet ads. I very much doubt there are many "health advisory bodies" in Australia that wouldn't support stricter standards for junk food advertising for kids. Folk such as the AMA, who thought the decision was "unconscionable". What a great word that is.

There is more though. And this part is much funnier. The chairman was happy to acknowledge that research suggests there is a relationship between advertising and consumption. Obviously a smart fellow. He might only have been in the media industry 30 years, and he's already worked out that there's some sort of vague correlation between advertising and purchasing. However, he then claims that the link isn't causal. According to this advertising expert, there's no clear evidence that advertising to children actually changes their preferences in any way. I suspect that all those companies spending $1 trillion a year on marketing would be disappointed to hear this. According to the ACMA all their money has been wasted.

I'm usually the sort to get upset about people assigning causality where there isn't any. But in the case of advertising, I do think you can pretty safely say that spending money on advertising influences people's decisions on what they buy. It is rather a pity that the man in charge of regulating advertising doesn't agree.

Although if he's right, and those junk food marketing fellows really are throwing their money away, he would be doing them a huge favour by closing them down. I would love it if he was right, but desperately hoping doesn't necessarily make it so, even in advertising.