‘Unethical’ junk food packaging manipulates children into craving sweets, says report

Food companies use bright colors and cartoon characters in an “unethical” effort to manipulate children to make them want the sweets and chips they produce, according to a report cited by News.ro. Bite Back, an association that is part of chef Jamie Oliver’s empire, asked nutrition experts to analyze 262 sugary food products sold in the UK with packaging that could appeal to children, made by the 10 biggest food companies.

Oliver accused food manufacturers of deliberately using packaging designed to “capture young minds” to sell more unhealthy food, The Guardian reports.

The research, carried out by Action on Salt, a food think tank based at Queen Mary University of London, found that: 78% of products were considered unhealthy because of their fat, salt or sugar content, 67% of those featured a character were unhealthy, 80% of the products used bright colors as well as funny patterns and letters to attract children’s attention.

Bite Back said: “Some businesses use packaging that appeals to children to offer them unhealthy products. These include Kinder Surprise, M&Ms, Randoms and Monster Munch Giants – all hiding behind colorful packaging that appeals to children while drenching their products in sugar and fat.”

Oliver said: “Whether it’s funny characters, bright images or exciting new shapes, these game-changing companies choose them because they know they will capture the minds of young people. This ploy … is yet another way companies bombard kids with unhealthy junk food.”

Bite Back presents its evidence to a House of Lords inquiry into ultra-processed foods, diet and obesity on Thursday.

The survey found that all 58 child-friendly products made by Mondelēz International – which owns the Cadbury, Oreo, Milka and Dairylea brands – were unhealthy. Also, all 22 Ferrero products contained high amounts of fat, salt or sugar, Bite Back found.

Mars, PepsiCo and Kellogg’s sell dozens of products that appeal to children that are unhealthy, the report found. However, none of the products appealing to children was Danone.

In February, Labour’s Wes Streeting expressed concern that “as citizens, we are being very manipulated by the food marketing that is thrown at us”. There are “serious arguments” for imposing new restrictions on food packaging, he added.

Promising that a Labor government would introduce a 9pm cut-off on advertising for these products, Streeting also urged food manufacturers to help tackle obesity or risk being forced by a “compressor cylinder” to this thing.

The Department of Health and Social Care said the government had “a proven track record of taking action on childhood obesity”.