South Korea Outlaws Junk Ads Aimed at Kids

Move over, Jamie Oliver—South Korea is on the move, taking names and kicking Cheetos when it comes to kids eating junk food!

The legislation targets foods that are high in fat, salt, and sugar—which, of course, means pretty much every food ad on television. Carrots, celery and kidney bean commercials are still safe on the airways.

Junk food ads won’t be completely nixed, however. They’ll just be restricted during the prime time hours of TV when children are most likely to be watching, between the hours of 5 and 7 PM. It’s like those 900-number commercials for “hot singles in your area!” and uncensored versions of your favorite programs; fatty food is now an edgy vice up there with sex and profanity.

As much as I’m for free speech, I’m very cool with this action. Kids are constantly targeted with advertisements every day, and though parents should be responsible for what their kids view, they ultimately often are not. And as much as I’d like to say that kids can learn to be discerning consumers by watching these programs, the fact remains that their young minds often cannot tell fact from fiction (not that they are stupid; they are simply still developing) and are highly impressionable.

For the same reason cartoon cigarette characters came under the radar for marketing toward kids, it makes sense to do the same with fatty foods. They are harmful in the same way—being detrimental for the overall health of children—and deceptive in the same way, as well.

Of course, if I had my way, all advertisements would be honest or, better yet, nonexistent, but that’s not about to happen; so perhaps the U.S. could take a page from this piece of law and start doing the same thing. After all, our obesity numbers are reaching epidemic proportions, and if there’s anything we need less of in our children’s lives, it’s junk food.

And get this: South Korea maintains that its goal is not to put the junk foods out of business, but to make them consider the products they sell and try to provide healthier options for consumers. That sounds like a win-win to me; I, for one, would love me some sour cream & onion chips with flaxseed and whole grains rather than oil and mess—and I’d be happy to pay an extra buck or two for them, too. Of course, that’s another problem about healthy food—the cheapness of unhealthy food, that is; perhaps there will be a way to get companies to consider that when developing new choices as well.