Health News: Advertising healthy food - Non-broadcast rules scupper efforts

The criticism follows the unveiling of new standards from the Committeeof Advertising Practice, which oversees advertising in magazines,newspapers, cinemas, videos, billboards and paid-for internetadvertising. They come into force in July.

The rules stop short of banning junk food advertising or adoptingcriteria to distinguish between healthy and unhealthy foods in line withrules drawn up by broadcast advertising regulator Ofcom. Instead theyapply restrictions to all food and soft drink products except fruit andvegetables.

The standards say adverts should not sell to children by directlyappealing to emotions such as fear or superiority, use "hard-selltechniques", or give a misleading impression of the product'snutritional content.

Andrew Brown, the committee's chairman, said: "These comprehensive rulesare designed to help protect children's health while still allowingadvertisers an appropriate degree of freedom to promote theirproducts."