Food Advertising Unit

This article is part of the Foodspin project of Spinwatch.

The Food Advertising Unit is a food and advertising industry funded organisation dedicated to resisting demands to regulate advertising of fast foods. It was set up in 1995 under the auspices of the Advertising Association. According to the FAU it is:

a coalition of food and soft drink advertisers, advertising agencies and the media (press, radio and television). This tripartite membership allows the FAU to represent the UK advertising industry holistically. The FAU helps to promote one voice across the food and soft drink advertising industry by co-ordinating the efforts of individual members and by working in partnership with other trade associations.

The Food Advertising Unit (FAU) was set up in 1995 under the auspices of the Advertising Association, as a centre for information, communication and research on the issue of food and soft drink advertising to children.

Above all, the FAU aims to raise the quality of the debate surrounding advertising to children by providing pan-industry leadership and a forum for dialogue to inform industry awareness and best practice in food advertising and marketing communications.

FAU membership is composed of multi-national food companies, agencies and the media, offering a holistic representation of the food and soft drink advertising industry in the UK.

Aims and Objectives

FAU maintain that: Food advertising and health is an important debate, in which the advertising industry can make a positive contribution in the interests of society. The FAU is supportive of efforts to address issues relating to diet, physical activity and health, and our members are committed to playing a positive role.

However, food marketing is not the fundamental driver of diet quality, or the overall health of society. Many factors are involved in the process of becoming overweight or obese and therefore the problem is one which demands a holistic rather than piecemeal approach.

The FAU can be part of the solution by:

• Promoting responsible implementation and adherence to the spirit and letter of the codes. • Promoting media literacy programmes, member CSR initiatives and educational campaigns such as Media Smart. • Commissioning new research to inform and advance the debate. :

The FAU produces extensive briefings materials on a variety of issues including Advertising to children, Advertising and diet,The Role of the advertising industry, International comparisons on advertising food to children,The Regulatory Framework for Chilren's Advertising and What Parents and Adults think about Advertising to children.

The FAU claim that " advertising restrictions are unlikely to have a significant impact on the Government’s goal of reducing obesity, but could have a disproportionate and detrimental effect on the commercial broadcasters and the advertising sector. Commercial broadcasters, in particular niche children’s television channels, could potentially face substantial revenue losses.

The FAU makes the argument in several of its briefings that restrictions are unnecessary stating that, "The available academic research does not support the frequently voiced view that food advertising is a significant cause of diet-related problems, for example obesity.

The argument that food advertising leads to bad health is based on several assumptions that do not represent the reality of the way that advertising works or how parents and children make their food choices."

Obesity Study

This research by Volterra Consulting, updated to take into account the latest obesity figures and commissioned by the FAU, is a contribution to the obesity debate. This research focuses on the role of "peer acceptance" as a significant factor in the obesity debate Peer acceptance is about people continuing in modes of behaviour because other people within their social groups do, which makes it more acceptable within the peer group. <ref>http://www.adassoc.org.uk/tasks/sites/aa/assets/File/AA_Obesity_Study_19.01.10.doc<ref>

Affiliations

The FAU states that it works with a wide number of other organisations and trade associations, including:

• Advertising Association
• The Incorporated Society of British Advertisers (ISBA)
• The Commercial Radio Companies Association
• Radio Advertising Bureau
• Periodical Publishers Association
• Newspaper Publishers Association
• Satellite and Cable Broadcasters Group
• Institute of Practitioners in Advertising
• MediaSmart
• National Parent Teacher Association (NCPTA)
• Raisingkids.co.uk

People

Staff

• Sue Eustace, Director of Public Affairs. Sue Eustace was appointed Director of Public Affairs at the Advertising Association in October 2006, with responsibility for the FAU. She joined the AA in 2003 as Head of Public Affairs, following several years working as a consultant in the TV sector. She previously spent 13 years working on UK and European public affairs at the ITV Network Centre.
• Cristina Domínguez, Public Affairs Executive. Cristina Domínguez was appointed Public Affairs Executive in April 2007. She is experienced in advertising issues, having joined the AA as Public Affairs Secretary in June 2004 and subsequently promoted to Policy Assistant for Public Affairs in September 2005, in which role she also designed and managed the Members Section of the AA website.

Contact details

7th Floor North, Artillery House, 11-19 Artillery Row, London SW1P 1RT.

Tel: +44 (0) 20 7340 1100 Fax: +44 (0) 20 7222 1504