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Mars maker bars under-12 advertising

05/02/2007

Mars, Snickers and other confectionery products sold by UK food sector giant Masterfoods will no longer be marketed at children aged under 12, the company has announced.

Masterfoods, whose brands also include Twix, Starburst and Maltesers, made the announcement in a letter to Robert Madelin, European Commission director-general for health and consumer protection.

"We have decided to make an official policy change to a cut-off age of 12 years for all our core products," the letter said.

Responding to the announcement, a senior advertising industry figure said that a consensus was emerging between the manufacturers of junk foods not to advertise their products to primary school children.

The Institute of Practioners in Advertising's director general, Hamish Pringle, told BBC2 that Masterfoods' announcement was "quite a significant move".

"I do think it is significant because we are all grasping for an appropriate age band to not target with advertising. This is the emerging consensus view that it is at the transition point between primary and secondary education that really is the kind of watershed for kids."

"There are complex ratings targets and indices that can be used to do that. They can simply not place ads in breaks of programmes that are known to be viewed by young kids."

Last November, broadcasting regulator Ofcom said it would ban all junk food advertising before, during and after programmes designed for children under 16.

According to Department of Health statistics, one million British children will be obese by 2010 if steps are not taken to halt the trend.

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