Children manipulated by big companies through ‘unethical’ tricks to make them crave sweets

Food companies are using bright colors and cartoon characters in an “unethical” effort to manipulate children into wanting the sweets and chips they produce, according to a report cited by The Guardian.

Bite Back, a campaign group 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, notes News.ro.

Oliver accused food manufacturers of deliberately using packaging designed to “capture young minds” in order to sell more unhealthy food.

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.

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

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

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 that appeal to children were 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 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”. (photo source Dreamstime)