Junk food ads have been banned by the Queensland Government in an effort to crack down or bad diets and growing childhood obesity rates.
The ads will be phased out at more than 2,000 outdoor advertising spaces such as bus stops, trains stations, and road corridors, according to health minister Steven Miles.
Miles told the ABC: “Junk food advertisers target kids, we know that, and obesity in childhood is a leading indicator of obesity in adulthood.
“This is about doing what we can to protect our kids from the kind of marketing that leads them to make unhealthy choices.”
Miles said the ban would affect leased advertising spaces owned by the state government.
He said: “Obesity is a real challenge for our community, for our hospitals and the health services, but also for the individuals who are suffering — this is really just a decision about the Government leading by example and saying that we will use our spaces to advertise healthier options.”
Obesity Policy Coalition executive manager Jane Martin said the bans were a win for childhood obesity.
She said: This is exactly the sort of action that’s recommended by agencies around the world, like the World Health Organisation, to protect children from the influence of junk food marketing.
Martin continued: “Young people use public transport, they’re exposed to this sort of marketing, it’s wallpaper in their lives”, adding that it was an “important step to protect children”.
Martin said digital and television marketing are in the remit of the federal government.
The Liberal National Party, however, says the ban simply draws attention away from an emergency department crisis, where beds are in short supply.
LNP deputy leader Tim Mander said: “We want the Palaszczuk government to get its priorities right.”
