Abstract
Reducing non-core food advertising to children is an important priority in strategies to address childhood obesity. Public health researchers argue for government intervention on the basis that food industry self-regulation is ineffective; however, the industry contends that the existing voluntary scheme adequately addresses community concerns. This paper examines the operation of two self-regulatory initiatives governing food advertising to children in Australia, in order to determine whether these regulatory processes foster transparent and accountable self-regulation. The paper concludes that while both codes appear to establish transparency and accountability mechanisms, they do not provide for meaningful stakeholder participation in the self-regulatory scheme. Accordingly, food industry self-regulation is unlikely to reflect public health concerns or to be perceived as a legitimate form of governance by external stakeholders. If industry regulation is to remain a feasible alternative to statutory regulation, there is a strong argument for strengthening government oversight and implementing a co-regulatory scheme.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
The QSRI does not contain restrictions on the placement of advertisements. A revised version of the code contains similar placement restrictions to the RCMI and came into effect beginning November 1, 2012 (see AFGC 2012c).
P programmes are designed to be suitable for pre-school children, while C programmes are those suitable for children under 14 years of age. See the Children’s Television Standards 2009 CTS 5,6.
From 2010 the AFGC summarized companies’ annual reports in its Compliance Report but did not release these reports individually.
References
Advertising Standards Bureau. 2010. Submission no. 27 to the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Social Policy and Legal Affairs. Inquiry into the regulation of billboard and outdoor advertising. http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/House_of_Representatives_Committees?url=spla/outdooradvertising/subs.htm. Accessed June 12, 2012.
Advertising Standards Bureau. 2011. Board member profiles. http://www.adstandards.com.au/aboutus/theadvertisingstandardsboard/boardmemberprofiles. Accessed June 20, 2012.
Alcohol Beverage Advertising Code Management Committee. 2012. The ABAC Scheme: Rules and procedures. http://www.abac.org.au/publications/rules-and-procedures. Accessed June 20, 2012.
Australian Association of National Advertisers. 2009. Australian Association of National Advertisers code of ethics. http://www.aana.com.au/advertiser_ethics_code.html. Accessed June 20, 2012.
Australian Association of National Advertisers. 2011. Australian Quick Service Restaurant Industry Initiative for Responsible Advertising and Marketing to Children. http://www.aana.com.au/QuickServiceRestaurantInitiative.htm. Accessed June 20, 2012.
Australian Communications and Media Authority. 2008. Review of the Children’s Television Standards 2005: Report of the review. Canberra: Commonwealth of Australia. http://www.acma.gov.au/webwr/_assets/main/lib310132/cts_report_of_the_review.pdf. Accessed June 20, 2012.
Australian Communications and Media Authority. 2010. Optimal conditions for self- and co-regulatory arrangements: Occasional paper. Canberra: Commonwealth of Australia.
Australian Communications and Media Authority. 2011. Industry self-regulation of children’s food and beverage advertising: ACMA monitoring report. Canberra: Commonwealth of Australia. http://www.acma.gov.au/webwr/_assets/main/lib310132/industry_self-regulation-advertising_to_children_monitoring_report-dec2011.pdf. Accessed June 20, 2012.
Australian Competiton and Consumer Commission. 2005. Guidelines for developing effective voluntary industry codes of conduct. Canberra: Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.
Australian Food and Grocery Council. 2009. Responsible Children’s Marketing Initative interim report. http://www.afgc.org.au/industry-codes/advertising-kids/rcmi-reports-2009.html. Accessed September 9, 2011.
Australian Food and Grocery Council. 2010a. The Responsible Children’s Marketing Initiative. http://www.afgc.org.au/industry-codes/advertising-kids.html. Accessed November 11, 2011.
Australian Food and Grocery Council. 2010b. Food and beverage advertising to children: Activity report. http://www.afgc.org.au/industry-codes/advertising-kids/rcmi-reports-2009.html. Accessed September 9, 2011.
Australian Food and Grocery Council. 2010c. Responsible Children’s Marketing Initiative 2010 compliance report. http://www.afgc.org.au/industry-codes/advertising-kids.html. Accessed September 9, 2011.
Australian Food and Grocery Council. 2012a. Food and beverage advertising to children: Activity report. http://www.afgc.org.au/industry-codes/advertising-to-children/rcmi/rcmi-reports-2009.html. Accessed June 20, 2012.
Australian Food and Grocery Council. 2012b. Food adverts for children fall to almost zero. http://www.afgc.org.au/media-releases/1196-food-adverts-for-children-fall-to-almost-zero.html. Accessed July 5, 2012.
Australian Food and Grocery Council. 2012c. AFGC QSR Initiative for Responsible Adveritsing and Marketing to Children. http://www.afgc.org.au/industry-codes/advertising-to-children/qsr-initiative.html. Accessed September 11, 2012.
Australian Food and Grocery Council. 2012d. Responsible Children’s Marketing Initiative 2011 compliance report. http://www.afgc.org.au/industry-codes/advertising-to-children/rcmi/rcmi-reports-2009.html. Accessed June 20, 2012.
Australian Food and Grocery Council. 2012e. Response to the final report on the compliance of signatories to the Australian Quick Service Restaurant Industry Initiative for Responsible Advertising to Children. http://www.afgc.org.au/tools-guides-.html. Accessed September 11, 2012.
Australian Food and Grocery Council. 2012f. Australian Food and Grocery Council position statement in response to responsible advertising to children: An independent review of the Australian food and beverage industry self-regulatory codes. http://www.afgc.org.au/industry-codes/advertising-to-children/rcmi/rcmi-reports-2009.html. Accessed March 19, 2013.
Australian Government. 2010. Taking preventative action. A response to Australia: The healthiest country by 2020: The report of the National Preventative Health Taskforce. Canberra: Commonwealth of Australia.
Australian Government. 2011. Best practice regulation handbook. Canberra: Commonwealth of Australia.
Australian National Preventive Health Agency. 2011. Strategic plan 2011–2015. Canberra: Commonwealth of Australia. http://www.anpha.gov.au/internet/anpha/publishing.nsf/Content/strategic-plan. Accessed June 20, 2012.
Australian National Preventive Health Agency. 2012a. Communiqué: National seminar on food advertising and marketing to children. http://anpha.gov.au/internet/anpha/publishing.nsf/Content/news-20120524. Accessed September 19, 2012.
Australian National Preventive Health Agency. 2012b. Television marketing of unhealthy food and beverages to children in Australia: A review of published evidence from 2009. Final report. http://anpha.gov.au/internet/anpha/publishing.nsf/Content/Television+marketing+of+unhealthy+food+and+beverages+to+children+in+Australia. Accessed March 19, 2013.
Bartle, I., and P. Vass. 2007. Self-regulation within the regulatory state: Towards a new regulatory paradigm? Public Administration 84(5): 885–905.
Black, J. 2001. Decentring regulation: Understanding the role of regulation and self-regulation in a “post-regulatory” world. Current Legal Problems 54(1): 103–146.
Black, J. 2008. Constructing and contesting legitimacy and accountability in polycentric regulatory regimes. Regulation and Governance 2(2): 137–164.
Braithwaite, J. 1989. Crime, shame and reintegration. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Brownell, K.D. 2012. Thinking forward: The quicksand of appeasing the food industry. PLoS Medicine 9(7): e1001254. doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1001254.
Brownell, K.D., and K.E. Warner. 2009. The perils of ignoring history: Big tobacco played dirty and millions died. How similar is big food? The Milbank Quarterly 87(1): 259–294.
Cairns, G.K., K. Angus, and G. Hastings. 2009. The extent, nature and effects of food promotion to children: A review of the evidence to December 2008. Geneva: World Health Organization.
Caraher, M., J. Landon, and K. Dalmey. 2006. Television advertising and children: Lessons from policy development. Public Health Nutrition 9(5): 596–605.
Cohen, D. 2004. The role of the state in a privatised regulatory environment. In Voluntary codes: Private governance, the public interest and innovation, ed. K. Webb, 25–36. Ottawa: Carleton Research Unit for Innovation, Science and Environment.
Donovan, R.J., L. Fielder, and G. Jalleh. 2011. Alcohol advertising advocacy research no match for corporate dollars: The case of Bundy R Bear. Journal of Research for Consumers 20: 1–13. http://jrconsumers.com/academic_articles/issue_20/Bundy_academic3.pdf.
Fisse, B., and J. Braithwaite. 1983. The impact of publicity on corporate offenders. Albany: State University of New York Press.
Gunningham, N. 1995. Environment, self-regulation, and the chemical industry: Assessing responsible care. Law and Policy 17(1): 57–109.
Gunningham, N., and J. Rees. 1997. Industry self-regulation: An institutional perspective. Law and Policy 19(4): 363–414.
Gunningham, N., and D. Sinclair. 2002. Leaders and laggards: Next generation environmental regulation. Sheffield: Greenleaf Publishing.
Harker, D. 2003. Towards effective advertising self-regulation in Australia: The seven components. Journal of Marketing Communications 9(2): 93–111.
Haufler, V. 2001. A public role for the private sector: Industry self-regulation in a global economy. Washington: Carnegie Endowment.
Hawkes, C., and J. Harris. 2011. An analysis of the content of food industry pledges on marketing to children. Public Health Nutrition 14(8): 1403–1414.
Healthy Kids Association. 2011. Final report on the compliance of signatories to the Australian Quick Service Restaurant Industry Initiative for Responsible Advertising to Children. http://www.afgc.org.au/tools-guides-.html. Accessed September 11, 2012.
Healthy Kids Association. 2012. History of HKA. https://healthy-kids.com.au/category/85/history. Accessed September 11, 2012.
Hebden, L., L. King, B. Kelly, K. Chapman, and C. Innes-Hughes. 2010. Industry self-regulation of food marketing to children: Reading the fine print. Health Promotion Journal of Australia 21(3): 229–235.
Hebden, L., L. King, A. Grunseit, B. Kelly, and K. Chapman. 2011. Advertising of fast food to children on Australian television: The impact of industry self-regulation. Medical Journal of Australia 195(1): 20–24.
House of Representatives Standing Committee on Health and Aging. 2009. Weighing it up: Obesity in Australia. Canberra: Commonwealth of Australia.
Institute of Medicine of the National Academies. 2006. Food marketing to children: Threat or opportunity? Washington: National Academies Press.
King, A., and M. Lennox. 2000. Industry self-regulation without sanctions: The chemical industry’s responsible care program. The Academy of Management Journal 43(4): 698–716.
King, L., L. Hebden, A. Grunseit, B.P. Kelly, K. Chapman, and V. Kamalesh. 2010. Industry self-regulation of television food advertising: Responsible or responsive? International Journal of Pediatric Obesity 6(2–2): e390–e398. doi:10.3109/17477166.2010.517313. Epub ahead of print September 21, 2010.
Kolish, E.D., and M. Hernandez. (2012). The Children’s Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative: A report on compliance and progress during 2011. Arlington, VA: Council of Better Business Bureaus. http://www.bbb.org/us/childrens-food-and-beverage-advertising-initiative/. Accessed March 19, 2013
Lee, J. 2010. Junk food codes fail, says doctor. The Sydney Morning Herald, September 10. http://www.smh.com.au/business/media-and-marketing/junk-food-codes-fail-says-doctor-20100909-1536n.html.
MacKay, S., N. Antonopoulos, J. Martin, and B.A. Swinburn. 2011. A comprehensive approach to protecting children from unhealthy food advertising. Melbourne: Obesity Policy Coalition.
Moran, M. 2002. Understanding the regulatory state. British Journal of Political Science 32(2): 391–413.
National Heart Forum. 2011. An analysis of the regulatory and voluntary landscape concerning the marketing and promotion of food and drink to children. London: National Heart Forum. http://www.heartforum.co.uk/our-work/policy/nutrition/marketing-food-and-drink-to-children/. Accessed September 11, 2012.
National Preventive Health Taskforce. 2009. Australia: The healthiest country by 2020. National preventative health strategy—overview. Canberra: Commonwealth of Australia.
OfCom. 2007. Television advertising of food and drink products to children: Final statement. London: OfCom. http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/binaries/consultations/foodads_new/statement/statement.pdf.
Parker, C. 2002. The open corporation: Effective self-regulation and democracy. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Quick Service Restaurant Industry. 2009. Initiative for Responsible Advertising and Marketing to Children. http://www.aana.com.au/QuickServiceRestaurantInitative.htm. Accessed June 20, 2012.
Sharma, L., S. Teret, and K. Brownell. 2010. The food industry and self-regulation: Standards to promote success and to avoid public health failures. American Journal of Public Health 100(2): 240–246.
Swinburn, B., G. Sacks, T. Lobstein, et al. 2007. The “Sydney Principles” for reducing the commercial promotion of foods and beverages to children. Public Health Nutrition 11(9): 881–886.
Tymms, S. 2012. Responsible advertising to children: An independent review of the Australian food and beverage industry self-regulatory codes. http://www.afgc.org.au/industry-codes/advertising-to-children/rcmi/rcmi-reports-2009.html. Accessed March 19, 2013.
Webb, K. 2004. Understanding the voluntary codes phenomenon. In Voluntary codes: Private governance, the public interest and innovation, ed. K. Webb, 2–24. Ottawa: Carleton Research Unit for Innovation, Science and Environment.
World Health Organization. 2010. Set of recommendations on the marketing of foods and non-alcoholic beverages to children. Geneva: World Health Organization. http://www.who.int/dietphysicalactivity/publications/recsmarketing/en/index.html. Accessed September 11, 2012.
Acknowledgments
I am grateful to Roger Magnusson for assisting me with this paper. The feedback from the two anonymous reviewers also proved very useful and some of their comments are incorporated into the final version.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Reeve, B. Private Governance, Public Purpose? Assessing Transparency and Accountability in Self-Regulation of Food Advertising to Children. Bioethical Inquiry 10, 149–163 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11673-013-9441-z
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11673-013-9441-z