The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) recently held a series of seminars aiming to reduce childhood obesity, and a series of speakers explored the current practices invoked in marketing to young people. In addition, agency efforts are underway to augment the nutritional standards of the foods and beverages being marketed to children.
Declaring childhood obesity “an epidemic of alarming proportions,” Jon Leibowitz, FTC chairman, explained the task at hand: to hear evidence on the impact marketing has on children’s food preferences, to discuss the legal implications of regulating advertising to children, and to hear preliminary standards developed by the Interagency Working Group on Food Marketed to Children (IWG).