At last a bit of sense in the pre-watershed 'junk food' advertising row. Ofcom asked consumers what they thought about the mooted ban on HFSS foods. Their response can be summed up in three words: DON'T PATRONISE US.
Consumers, even the young ones surveyed by Ofcom, proved they are intelligent enough to know what's going on. Just as they are capable of making so-called 'cheap chic' shopping decisions - combining a Prada jacket with an Asda top, or shopping at both a discounter like Aldi and an upmarket grocery store like Fresh & Wild - so they are capable of eating a healthy diet while pigging out on the occasional Mars bar. The 'good-gorge' diet, you might say.
It's not like they're starved of information, either. In the 1950s, the debate about tobacco was clouded in smoke, literally and figuratively. But today, there's never been more information on the potential harms of an unhealthy diet, with the government, lobby groups and the media all bombarding the consumer with facts and figures.
But the best evidence that heavy-handed legislation is unnecessary comes from consumers themselves. At this week's IGD convention, all of the supermarkets referenced a dramatic increase in the uptake of healthy option meals. Tesco's commercial and trading director Richard Brasher gave, as an example, the fact that it's cut back salt levels on 500 products, a reduction of 50 million teaspoons of salt. His point? That's it's increasing its range of lower-fat, lower-salt and lower-sugar products (as well as organic products), IN RESPONSE TO THE CONSUMER. The message, from Ofcom's research and from the IGD convention, is clear: let the market be policed by consumers. They can think for themselves, you know.
Consumers, even the young ones surveyed by Ofcom, proved they are intelligent enough to know what's going on. Just as they are capable of making so-called 'cheap chic' shopping decisions - combining a Prada jacket with an Asda top, or shopping at both a discounter like Aldi and an upmarket grocery store like Fresh & Wild - so they are capable of eating a healthy diet while pigging out on the occasional Mars bar. The 'good-gorge' diet, you might say.
It's not like they're starved of information, either. In the 1950s, the debate about tobacco was clouded in smoke, literally and figuratively. But today, there's never been more information on the potential harms of an unhealthy diet, with the government, lobby groups and the media all bombarding the consumer with facts and figures.
But the best evidence that heavy-handed legislation is unnecessary comes from consumers themselves. At this week's IGD convention, all of the supermarkets referenced a dramatic increase in the uptake of healthy option meals. Tesco's commercial and trading director Richard Brasher gave, as an example, the fact that it's cut back salt levels on 500 products, a reduction of 50 million teaspoons of salt. His point? That's it's increasing its range of lower-fat, lower-salt and lower-sugar products (as well as organic products), IN RESPONSE TO THE CONSUMER. The message, from Ofcom's research and from the IGD convention, is clear: let the market be policed by consumers. They can think for themselves, you know.
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