The Restriction of Adverts

In January 2, 1971, advertisements that featured cigarettes in them were banned from American TV, alcohol products use is allowed in adverts however there is not allowed to be any consumption of alcohol in any advertisement.

On 1 April, 2007 restrictions on when adverts featuring foods high in fat, sugar and salt would be shown on TV.

The idea behind this was to reduce the amount of exposure children had against products that were high in fat, sugar and salt, the reason for this was to try and improve children’s diets and prevent rising levels of obesity.

Before the restriction was made, 80% of food advertising was spent promoting foods appealing to children like sweets, soft drinks and cereals.

Figures for obesity showed that it had tripled in the last twenty years, one third of all children aged 2-15 were considered obese which is a contributing factor to heart disease, cancer and strokes.