Junk food ad ban 'could apply to radio'

Much is being made of Ofcom's plans to curb the TV advertising of junk food to children.

An Ofcom spokesman has told the Daily Mail: "It is clearly a given that there are going to be new restrictions. The case has been made that something has to be done."

More worrying for the commercial radio industry is the suggestion in Ofcom's consultation document (published in March this year) that any rules on TV junk food advertising may also be introduced to radio. This could starve the industry (excuse the pun) of up to £36m in annual ad revenue.

Here's an extract from a Radio Magazine piece I wrote earlier this year:

Ofcom says it will "investigate whether and what action may need to be taken in relation to radio advertising". Figures from Nielsen Media Research suggest advertisers spent £36m last year promoting junk food on the radio.

Dedicated children's channels could be prevented from broadcasting any adverts for junk food. Other broadcasters could be limited to just 30 seconds per clock hour at time of the day when children are most likely to be listening.

Gregory Watson, chief executive of children's station Fun Radio, said: "If they banned advertising or sponsorship in a programme that a child might listen to, that won't just hurt children's stations — it'll hurt the whole industry."

Former Disney Channel managing director and Capital Disney consultant Paul Robinson added: "An outright ban would be very bad news for consumers. Applying the same rules to radio as TV would be nonsense. Ofcom have got to be very careful."