The Stop Marketing to Kids Coalition aims to build awareness about the effects of food and beverage marketing to children in Canada. Through cross-sector collaboration and evidence-informed policy development, we encourage the government to adopt robust federal regulations that adequately protect children from commercial food and beverage marketing in Canada.
Research shows that as much as 90% of food and beverages marketed to children are for processed foods, high in sugar, salt and/or saturated fat. This marketing is having a devastating effect on children’s health and causing conflict in families.
Research also shows that food and beverage marketing has an impact on the foods children eat, their food preferences and beliefs, the foods they pester their parents to buy, the high rate of childhood obesity , and increased risk factors for chronic diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, stroke and cancer.
There is strong agreement amongst leading Canadian pediatric and allied health organizations that the impact of food and beverage marketing is real, significant and harmful to children’s development. Over 120 organizations and children’s health advocates across Canada are calling on our governments to restrict food and beverage marketing to kids. Please see the Stop Marketing to Kids Coalition’s policy recommendation at the bottom of this page.
The World Health Organization has released a new guideline on policies to protect children from the harmful impact of food marketing. The guideline recommends countries implement comprehensive mandatory policies to protect children of all ages from the marketing of foods and non-alcoholic beverages that are high in saturated fatty acids, trans-fatty acids, free sugars and/or salt (HFSS).
The Stop Marketing to Kids Coalition recommends that the federal government introduce regulations to restrict the marketing of food and beverages high in salt, sugars and saturated fat to children under age 13, to be published in The Canada Gazette Part I by Fall 2023, as per Health Canada’s most recent Forward Regulatory Plan. We recommend that the federal government firmly adhere to this timeline.
The Stop Marketing to Kids Coalition also supports Private Member’s Bill C-252, Child Protection Act. However, the bill should encourage, not delay, the federal government’s introduction of regulations by Fall 2023.
The Childhood Healthy Living Foundation acknowledges that the CHLF office is situated on the unceded traditional territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations.
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