44th Parl. 1st Sess.
May 6, 2022 10:00AM
Madam Speaker, I shall proceed. As per the FDA, “food” includes beverages, and “advertisement” is defined in broad terms, including any representation by any means by promoting directly or indirectly the sale of products controlled by legislation.
The notion of advertisement is media neutral, which encompasses the latest technologies and evolving methods.
Clause 4 of Bill C-252 adds a new section to the FDA, entitled “Advertising directed at children”, whereby provisions and regulations will define the marketing and advertising mechanisms that would be prohibited and would be part of the bill.
Clause 7.3 allows, after five years of the adoption of Bill C-252, a review mechanism, possible by a committee of the Senate, of the House of Commons or of both Houses of Parliament, in order to evaluate if there has been an increase in advertising of foods and beverages that contribute to excess sugar, saturated fats or sodium in children's diets in the next group of kids, that is persons who are between 13 and 16 years of age.
Lastly, clause 6 of the bill stipulates that the act would come into force one year after receiving royal assent.
By supporting Bill C-252, we are ensuring that marketing and advertising cannot bypass parents and target children directly.
To conclude, we all have an opportunity to advocate through meaningful changes to our food environment. The government has taken important steps to create conditions to make the healthier choice the easier choice for all Canadians, but still, more work remains to be done.
We are committed to advancing the remaining key healthy eating strategy initiatives to further improve the state of healthy eating in Canada and have a meaningful impact on the long-term health of Canadians. This includes taking actions to support children's healthy eating habits to mitigate risks of obesity and diet-related chronic diseases. A healthy population, including healthy children, is not only key to reducing the likelihood of serious health problems, thus requiring fewer health care services, but would also contribute to a healthy economy as well.
Some parliamentarians may recall that a similar bill, Bill S-228, was initially tabled in the Senate in 2016, spearheading the approach to introducing restrictions on advertising and marketing to children. It had passed in the Senate, was debated and amended in this chamber, and was subsequently returned to the Senate, but never reached the final vote before the dissolution of Parliament in 2019.
In the meantime, industry stakeholders have taken initiatives to tackle the issue of advertising to children, but their attempts at self-regulation have been on a voluntary basis only and lack proper monitoring. As a result, Canadian children continue to be exposed to these ads.
It is worth noting that restricting marketing to children has become mandatory in countries such as Portugal, Mexico and Chile, and Argentina and Spain are in the process of advancing new legislative regulatory initiatives. More importantly, the U.K. tabled legislation imposing restrictions on advertising of HFSS products, those that are high in fat, salt and sugar, in July 2021. It received royal assent just last Thursday, April 28, and will come into effect in less than a year, on January 1, 2023.
Dear colleagues, Canada must follow suit. The issue on hand is non-partisan, and I hope to count on the support of all parliamentarians in this House, as well as all senators, for the adoption of Bill C-252, which will benefit our children and future generations. I would like to thank the researchers, especially Dr. Monique Potvin Kent, la Coalition Poids, the Quebec coalition, the Stop Marketing to Kids Coalition, the allied health agencies, the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada and the Childhood Obesity Foundation, who have worked and supported the objectives of Bill C-252 and of its prior version.
I look forward to the final implementation of Bill C-252.
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for his excellent question.
The bill encompasses all types of advertising, including digital advertising. I hope measures will be taken to tackle and stop big companies from being able to target our children via digital channels, whether it be through cell phones, computers or online media.
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Madam Speaker, I want to thank my colleague for her very relevant question.
This bill was indeed inspired by Quebec's Consumer Protection Act, which I think has been very successful. In the past, we saw this kind of advertising at amusement parks, like La Ronde, and at water parks. We need to have a system in place to determine what kinds of advertising break the law, so that we can manage and regulate them.
With regard to resources, this was done in Quebec, and we already have the evidence. Notices are sent out immediately. Then, if the advertising agencies do not take prompt action, they are taken to court. We know that rather hefty fines have been imposed in the past.
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Madam Speaker, I really thank the member for her speech today and for the comments that were made around the health of children and the impact of advertising.
Can the member comment on how gaming, which strategically places product within games, in the hands of characters, can be included in the bill?
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Madam Speaker, young kids would rather eat rocks covered with stickers than a fresh banana. This is what research has proved. On an episode of Dateline, kids were given a rock covered in cartoon stickers and a banana, and then asked which one they would rather eat. They chose the rock because of its affiliation to a well-known cartoon character. Advertising to children works, and companies know this.
Children under eight are the most susceptible to food marketing, because they are unable to understand its selling or persuasive intent. There is strong agreement among leading Canadian pediatric and allied health organizations that the impact of food and beverage marketing is real, significant and harmful to children's development.
Quebec accepted this reality over 40 years ago, and has consumer protections prohibiting advertising that targets children under the age of 13. Quebec children, all the way back to 1980, have been protected from this harmful practice perpetuated by corporations. Other jurisdictions around the world have also adopted similar legislation, including Norway, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Sweden and Portugal.
Quebec's restrictions on advertising to children have been shown to have a positive impact on nutrition by reducing fast-food consumption by 13%. Quebec also has the lowest rates of obesity among children aged five to 17, and the highest rates of vegetable and fruit consumption in Canada. Quebec has proved that restricting marketing to children works.
Canadians are the second-largest buyers of ultraprocessed foods and drinks in the world, second only to the Americans. Nearly one in three Canadian children is overweight or obese. Research states that the relationship between obesity and exposure to food advertising meets all criteria commonly used to demonstrate the presence of a causal relationship in epidemiology. We know that overweight children are more likely to develop health problems later in life, including heart disease, type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure. With this proposed legislation, we have an opportunity to protect the health of the rest of Canada's children by reducing unhealthy food marketing.
Good eating habits and avoidance of unhealthy foods are key preventative elements of health policy. Canada's New Democrats have advocated for a ban on unhealthy food and beverage marketing to children for years. In fact, my colleague for New Westminster—Burnaby introduced legislation to expressly prohibit advertising and promotion for commercial purposes of products, foods, drugs, cosmetics or devices directly to children under 13 years of age back in 2012. We understand the link between this advertising and long-term health. We also know from research that children from socio-economically disadvantaged and ethnic minority backgrounds are disproportionally exposed to unhealthy food advertisements. This is simply unacceptable.
New Democrats want every child in Canada to develop a healthy relationship to nutrition and the foods they consume. That is why we are also calling for the establishment of a national school nutrition program to give every student access to nutritious food, and to make healthy eating a daily lesson for our kids to develop lifelong good food habits.
I will take a moment to give a shout-out to the City of Port Moody. Its council recently sent me correspondence that the City is in full support of the B.C. Chapter of the Coalition for Healthy School Food. The coalition is a growing network of over 160 member organizations seeking public investment in a universal, cost-shared, healthy school food program for all children and youth in Canada. I raise my hands to this coalition, and I am fully supportive of its goal.
In Canada, 90% of the food marketed to children and youth on TV and online is unhealthy, and three-quarters of children in Canada are exposed to food marketing while using their favourite social media apps. Marketing to children has changed dramatically in the past 10 years. Today, it is seamless, sophisticated and often interactive. The line between ads and children's entertainment is blurred, with marketing messages being inserted into the places where children play and learn.
Online advertising, in particular, has become ever more prevalent. Marketers directly target children via websites, apps and other digital platforms. These ads are often presented as entertainment. They even have a name: “advergames”. An advergame is an interactive online game that contains embedded media content with the purpose of promoting specific brands or products.
According to scientific studies, advergames are widely used to market high salt, sugar and fat products, referred to as HSSF. A 2018 meta-analysis of 15 global studies focusing on children aged five to 17, found that 97% of all food and beverage advergames contain at least one food cue that is considered a brand identifier. These place a branded food item, such as cereal, a soft drinks or snack foods, in the mouth of a popular children's character. Children as old as 15 do not recognize these advergames as advertising.
Research shows that advergames persuade on a subconscious emotional level and can change children's behaviour without their conscious awareness. In a study presented in ScienceDirect, the authors even rose the fundamental ethical question about the use of this technique in children. In addition, as advergames do not typically include age restrictions, it is also likely that children are accessing advergames that are not age-appropriate. Parents and children are often unaware that advergames have a marketing element.
New ways of advertising do not leave traditional television off the hook. A 2019 study from 22 countries found Canadian children up to the age of 18 were exposed to 13 HSSF advertisements per hour during peak viewing times, while the global average was only three. The most frequently advertised food and beverage items globally were carbonated soft drinks, flavoured waters, chocolate and confectionery. Overall, the study found HSSF food items are promoted four times more than healthier food items, and the majority of these ads come from a small number of multinational corporations. These corporations are impacting the life-long health and eating habits of our children.
To add insult to injury, the correlation between unhealthy food advertisement and childhood obesity is being disputed by industry-sponsored reports that recommend promoting physical activity and weight loss campaigns rather than policies to limit exposure to their advertising. The reality is that we must do both. There are a number of peer-reviewed studies that support this dual approach. One study out of the U.K. went so far as to say governments should implement restrictions that would further limit exposure to TV and online ads of HSSF products, and Cancer Research UK has proposed introducing a total ban of advertising these products before 9 p.m. They further recommend a total ban on this type of food advertisement before 9 p.m. on all online streaming services, as well as a total ban placed on online advergames, which have been developed for the primary purpose of promoting unhealthy food. This highlights how serious this problem is.
Only legislation will work to stop these multinational corporations from trying to increase consumption of unhealthy food, especially to our kids. Study after study shows that voluntary bans are ineffective and there are data that prove that exposure to unhealthy food advertising is similar before and after any introduction of a voluntary ban.
In closing, New Democrats have been calling for a ban on unhealthy food advertising targeted at children for years. We believe that it is wrong to let wealthy corporations manipulate the near- and long-term eating habits of our children. We stand unambiguously on the side of children's health and welfare, and not on the side of corporate profits. It is time to do what we know works to protect children and to help them develop a healthy relationship to nutrition and food.
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