'Junk food rules should cover all media,' say marketers
By Caitlin Fitzsimmons
Guardian
Unlimited
November 21, 2007
Most UK marketers are willing to extend the restrictions
on TV ads pitching junk food to children to other media,
a survey suggests.
The Chartered Institute of Marketing's Marketing Trends
survey found that three out of four marketers believed
the recent voluntary code change prohibiting TV
advertising of junk food to children should be extended
across all media.
Some 38% agreed with the idea and a further 36% strongly
agreed, while only 13% either disagreed or strongly
disagreed.
Older marketers were the most concerned with 86% of
those aged 66 years and over agreeing that the
restrictions should be extended.
Meanwhile, marketers were gloomy in their outlook for
the UK economy, with 40% believing the economy will get
worse in the coming year, up from 38% in spring 2007.
Positive sentiment dropped to 14%, with marketers from
Northern Ireland or under age of 26 the most optimistic,
while 42% expected it would stay about the same.
Green issues were a growing concern, with 61% of
marketers believing that a company's sustainability
practices affected customers' buying decisions, although
only 12% agreed stongly. However, 70% believed that
customers will have a greater commitment to
sustainability in five years time.
The survey, conducted for the institute by research
company Ipsos Mori, covered 1,127 marketers from a broad
cross-section of organizations by sector, turnover and
geographic location.