Food and Beverage Advertising to Canadian Children 1

Food and Beverage Advertising to Canadian Children: Restricting Unhealthy Marketing

Devyn Weir

Communications Studies – COMM 2400-001

Professor Karen Owen

February 1, 2018
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Introduction

Worry has developed with the amount of advertisements Canadian children see about unhealthy

food and beverages. In this paper, I will examine a case study done by the Heart and Stroke

Foundation with the ensuing ethical issue. Furthermore, I will look at the ethical considerations

and decisions made in regard to this issue.

Case Study and Ethical Issue

Concerns have arisen in regard to the advertising of certain food and beverage products to

children here in Canada. The Heart and Stroke Foundation released a study in 2017 regarding

this issue. The research article on the Heart and Stroke’s website states, “… our children and

youth are bombarded with ads for unhealthy products all day, every day, influencing their

food and beverage choices.” Furthermore, the article says, “…kids between the ages of

two and 11 see 25 million food and beverage ads a year on their top 10 favourite

websites.” The article claims that the government should pass legislation which would

put restrictions on the advertising of food and beverages to children.

Ethical Considerations

The government of Canada has responded to the Heart and Stroke’s study. Although, the

government has not reached a decision about this issue yet. Health Canada, however, does admit

that they, “want to reduce how much advertising children see or hear about unhealthy food and

beverages.” Health Canada wants to consult with the Canadian public before going ahead with a

decision on this issue. Furthermore, according to Health Canada, they consulted the Canadian

public this past summer (June 10th, 2017 to August 14th, 2017) and received 1146 responses.

Health Canada states, “Your ideas and opinions will help us decide how to go about restricting
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advertising for unhealthy food and beverages to children.” Yet, the consultation period is not

over. Health Canada states, “More consultation will take place in 2018.”

Conclusion & Discussion

In conclusion, based off of new research, The Heart and Stroke Foundation believes that

currently there is too much advertising of unhealthy food and beverages to children in Canada.

Therefore, The Heart and Stroke Foundation is calling for restrictions to be put into place that

would diminish this type of advertising. The government of Canada is also looking to reduce the

number of advertisements of unhealthy food and beverages to children. However, at this time,

the government has not reached a decision to what restrictions will be made to create this

reduction. The government consulted the Canadian public this past summer and is planning on

consulting the public further in 2018. In my opinion, the Canadian government is doing the right

thing by looking to reduce this type of advertising. Personally, consulting with the Canadian

public before making a decision as to how this reduction will be done is the correct way to go

about this type of ethical issue, as it concerns the majority of the public, therefore, the public

should be able to have a say in the matter. I believe that with these types of ethical issues, the

government should always be looking to operate with the best interests of the people in mind.
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References

Government of Canada. (2017, December 6). Restricting unhealthy food and beverage
marketing to children. Retrieved from
https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/programs/consultation-restricting-unhealthy-food-
and-beverage-marketing-to-children.html

Government of Canada. (2017, December 8). Consultation Report: Restricting Marketing of

Unhealthy Food and Beverages to Children in Canada. Retrieved from
https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/publications/food-nutrition/restricting-
marketing-to-kids-what-we-heard.html

The Heart and Stroke Foundation. (2017, February 1). News release: The food and beverage
industry is marketing our children and youth to death. Retrieved from:
https://www.heartandstroke.ca/what-we-do/media-centre/news-releases/the-food-and-
beverage-industry-is-marketing--our-children-and-youth-to-death