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Food advertising 'Brands get onto children's newsfeeds and interact like real life friends'

We need to stand up to the the lobbying power of the multinational food industry, writes Chris Macey.

IMAGINE THERE’S A stranger following your child around, trying to become their friend and dressing it all up as a bit of harmless fun. But you know they’re putting your youngster’s welfare and health at risk.

You have no way of confronting them directly. And don’t bother calling the authorities, they know what’s happening, they know the full extent of the danger, but won’t do anything about it. What would you do?

This is not a hypothetical question – if you have a child aged between seven and 17, the likelihood is it’s happening to them. And it’s time parents were told exactly what’s going on.

Tactics of the world’s best marketing brains

Junk food brands have achieved a wholly inappropriate proximity to our children – pestering them relentlessly in school, at home and even in their bedrooms, mostly through their smart phones. It’s almost like each child has their own personal marketer in tow wherever they go.

You might think this is over-dramatic. That’s the initial view of many parents who’ve taken part in research into online junk food marketing to children.

But when they discover the subtle tactics employed against their children by some of the best marketing brains in the world, they quickly change their tune.

It’s important to spell out why this matters

It’s 14 years since the link between junk food marketing and childhood obesity was proved. The evidence is so overwhelming that junk adverts on Irish television were restricted in 2013.

But there’s still no regulation of digital marketing that’s more personalised, effective and therefore potentially even more damaging.

Sadly that damage is all too apparent. We now have children as young as eight with high blood pressure, and teenagers showing early signs of heart disease once seen mainly in middle age. Junk food marketing isn’t solely responsible, of course.

But it is a big ticket cause of obesity that must be dealt with if we’re serious about saving many of our children from lives dominated by ill-health, chronic disease and, ultimately, premature death.

Mining social media for personal information

Most parents are shocked to learn how much junk food marketers know about their children, the huge amounts of personal information extracted from them by digital platforms like Facebook: who they are, where they live, where they go, what their hobbies are, who their friends are and much more.

They deploy this information to connect with children on a one-to-one basis, using what they call the 3Es: powerful engagement, emotional and entertainment based tactics.

There’s a strong emphasis on fun and humour, using sports stars and celebrities, festivals, special days and competitions – like the best cheesy Dad jokes competition one big pizza brand ran in association with Father’s Day.

Getting inside kids’ heads

The effect is that children associate positive emotions and excitement with junk brands and often don’t even realise they’re being advertised at.

The brands get onto their newsfeeds and interact just like real friends, effectively becoming part of children’s social lives. They’re even made into marketers themselves by tagging friends in ads.

All this is delivered by happy and colourful brand characters designed to be attractive to children. But behind the goofy smile there’s a real stranger, a junk food marketer who doesn’t care tuppence about your child. They just want to get them to eat as much junk as possible.

Some people blame parents, but this doesn’t stack up

We’re all being besieged by wider forces – and that’s why over 60% of adults, including, no doubt, many parent-blamers, are also overweight or obese.

Looming large among these is the ever-increasing ubiquity of cheap and heavily marketed junk food and drinks. The pester power parents are subjected to is largely generated by junk brands pestering children.

These multinationals’ deep pockets have changed people’s notion of what constitutes a normal diet, effectively standing the food pyramid on its head by advertising as if their products were for everyday use, not to be consumed rarely and in small amounts.

We know this is fuelling obesity, we know obesity is damaging children and we know the state is failing in its duty of care to protect children’s health.

It’s clear this duty will only be discharged if a force emerges to match the lobbying power of the multinational industry.

Chris Macey is Head of Advocacy with Irish Heart. If you want to help us take a stand against the menace of junk marketing, sign the Stop Targeting Kids petition on www.irishheart.ie/stk.

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    Mute The Galway Crusader
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    Jan 22nd 2021, 4:15 PM

    What will they be basing the calculated Grades on? These students won’t have done any 5th year exams (due to Covid this last year) and no mock LC (from Covid this year).
    99% of LC students in a regular year would take your hand off for calculated grades. The State Examinations commission need to start planning for an open book exam rather than teachers handing out grades with little to no basis for the result given

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    Mute Sean Higgins
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    Jan 22nd 2021, 4:54 PM

    @The Galway Crusader: There is only one viable solution. Rock, Paper, Scissors.

    32
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    Mute Thomas Armstrong
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    Jan 22nd 2021, 5:52 PM

    @The Galway Crusader: I agree 100% with you. They haven’t sat down and done a Final end year exam since there 2nd year 3rd was their Junior exam a State exam and none of these can be used. I know they sat 2 Christmas exams but what could be asked of them in each of these test exams. Have they completed even 8months of schooling since all Lockdown’s. Home schooling is new to them unless you are a border. They go to the study hall each night and I say would find it easier to adopt than day students. I do think they have to seat the Leaving but I do fear for them unless they study pass papers in their courses it may be the only way for them to get thegrade they need if the exams are held in June.

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    Mute Declan Doherty
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    Jan 22nd 2021, 4:49 PM

    Good on Reuben Murray. That young man would run rings around the minister with his mature approach to this situation. She should take note. The LC isn’t going to happen. We just need Norma to wake up and realise that.

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    Mute Tony Gordon
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    Jan 22nd 2021, 4:45 PM

    Junior certs student THE FORGOTTEN
    No info on mocks and juniors cert, children facing into state exam for the first time don’t even get a mention, no dates, no update NOTHING.

    it isn’t just leaving cert students.

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    Mute Jonnie Marre
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    Jan 22nd 2021, 4:48 PM

    @Tony Gordon: junior cert is irrelevant! Forget it! It won’t happen and should be scrapped fully anyway.

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    Mute Tony Gordon
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    Jan 22nd 2021, 6:19 PM

    @Jonnie Marre: I’m glad you think having a child locked up going through the exact same experience as someone heading into the leaving cert, stressed out of their minds irrelevant.

    Sure who cares about them.

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    Mute Jules
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    Jan 22nd 2021, 4:43 PM

    It makes more sense to move to a continuous assessment model. Perhaps the journal could run a poll on the topic, just a suggestion.

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    Mute Lydia McLoughlin
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    Jan 22nd 2021, 5:04 PM

    @Jules: agreed as next years leaving is also going to be affected here at this rate.

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    Mute Maria Heraty
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    Jan 22nd 2021, 4:50 PM

    Why not do an exam as planned but half the curriculum….if they have 30 chapters do the first 15 chapters and same for every subject ….. at lease half the pressure but still some form of an exam in the end …. to much missed school for the normal LC to go ahead

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    Mute Eoghan Joyce
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    Jan 22nd 2021, 6:23 PM

    @Maria Heraty: chapters? The days of teaching directly out of the book are long gone, thankfully.

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    Mute Thomas Armstrong
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    Jan 22nd 2021, 6:25 PM

    @Maria Heraty: Would the student’s still have to answer the same amount of questions or half plus you would be taking away half of the curriculum that more then likely would be a favorite for a lot of students and be banking on answering 1 or 2 questions on those. I fear this question won’t be answered today or by the Minister if your idea was presented but its a start. I would like to see our teachers & TD’s do what you just did “Give an alternative”

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    Mute Dino Manning
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    Jan 22nd 2021, 5:13 PM

    The junior cert is gone! It’s junior cycle now! All higher and ordinary gone in all subjects except for maths English and Irish and even they have been made easier! Only common level in all the others! Sure it’s only a joke of a thing nowadays

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    Mute Tony Gordon
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    Jan 22nd 2021, 6:17 PM

    @Dino Manning: Like you to say that to a stressed out teen.

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    Mute John Donnelly
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    Jan 22nd 2021, 8:16 PM

    No child should be stressed out about Junior Cert, where is the stress coming from?

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    Mute Joan O'Boyle Mitchell
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    Jan 22nd 2021, 9:33 PM

    In the North at the end of 5th year you do an exam on everything you studied that year, then that course work is over. In 6th year you study second half of A level and do exams at end of that year. 5th year exams called As and are then added together to give an overall A level mark. If for some reason you drop out after 5th year you still have a qualification.

    So it’s kind of like semesterisation that happens at plc and some Uni’s

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    Mute Edward Ucator
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    Jan 22nd 2021, 7:47 PM

    Just a heads up, as an examiner I’d have received my application for this year by now from the SEC. They haven’t sent me anything yet. What do you make of that?

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    Mute Watchful Axe
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    Jan 22nd 2021, 6:59 PM

    You’d have to feel sorry for them, it’s basically an early experience of what third level is like, getting new material right up to the death fired at you in notes. On a normal year, most good teachers would have their subject fully covered before the mocks bar one or two bits.

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    Mute Seeking Truth
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    Jan 23rd 2021, 10:06 AM

    Could they possibly do in-school mocks in April to build on their calculated grades, and then see about the actual Leaving Cert?

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