垃圾食品广告加剧儿童肥胖？

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2020年08月02日

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垃圾食品广告加剧儿童肥胖？

肉块碰撞时溅出的肉汁、厚重饱满的浓浓芝士、色彩斑斓的糖果、还有在唇边咯吱脆响的薯片......专家表示，即使只看过一次，孩子对广告内容展现了惊人的记忆力。

测试中可能遇到的词汇和知识：

unveiled 裸露的，公开的[,ʌn'veɪld]

ideological 意识形态的[,aɪdɪəʊ'lɒdʒɪkəl]

diabetes 糖尿病[,daɪə'biːtiːz]

Budapest 布达佩斯（匈牙利的首都）

Epidemic 传染性的[epɪ'demɪk]

crackdown 镇压，取缔['krækdaʊn]

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Child obsesity prompts Hunt to seek curbs on TV junk food adverts （597words）

By Jim Pickard, Henry Mance and Sarah Neville

* * *

Jeremy Hunt, the health secretary, is pushing for restrictions on the advertising of junk food to children, to the alarm of broadcasters who fear this could cost them hundreds of millions of pounds a year.

Mr Hunt has pressed Downing Street to introduce the measures as part of a childhood obesity strategy, which will be unveiled within weeks.

But John Whittingdale, the culture secretary, has voiced concerns on behalf of the broadcasting industry. “Jeremy is pushing for this and John has been hesitant, that’s not his natural ideological position,” said one ally.

There is rising concern over the impact of obesity on the fragile finances of the National Health Service, with Simon Stevens, chief executive of NHS England, describing it as “the new smoking”.

Obesity costs the NHS £5.1bn a year and 40,000 deaths are linked to people being overweight or obese. Treating diabetes alone costs about 10 per cent of the NHS’s annual budget.

Health professionals are particularly worried about rising obesity among children: a third of 11-year-olds are overweight or obese, according to government figures.

David Cameron has repeatedly dismissed the idea of a new tax on sugary drinks as an intervention too far. Speaking in Budapest on Thursday, the prime minister said he would rather avoid imposing extra taxes on the industry.

But Mr Cameron insisted that the government needed to tackle an epidemic of obesity because of its impact on heart disease and cancer rates.

“I don’t really want to put new taxes on to anything but we do have to recognise that we face . . . an obesity crisis,” he said. “We do need to have a fully worked-up programme to deal with this problem.”

That programme will call for the industry to develop more alternative low-sugar products.

It is also expected to include a crackdown on the advertising of junk food on family programmes.

Since 2006, TV programmes that are disproportionately watched by children — such as Peppa Pig — cannot be accompanied by advertising for products that are high in fat, salt or sugar.

Commercial broadcasters have been lobbying against a stricter policy — in particular a total ban on junk food advertising before 9pm, which could cost them “a couple of hundred million” pounds a year in revenue, according to the Advertising Association.

Such a ban would have a particular impact on ITV, which accounts for more than two-fifths of Britain’s TV advertising sales.

Broadcasters and advertisers argue there is little evidence a total ban on junk food advertising before 9pm would reduce obesity among children. They have also said investment in TV shows would fall if the measure were introduced.

Spending on children’s television by public service broadcasters has fallen by 95 per cent since 2003, partly owing to existing advertising restrictions, according to trade body Pact.

Instead of stricter TV rules, the Advertising Association has promised to extend current limits on junk-food advertising to other outlets, such as YouTube, which it says accounts for most of marketing spending.

The government refused to comment.

请根据你所读到的文章内容，完成以下自测题目：

1. What is “the new smoking” hinting, as the chief executive of NHS England said?

a. obesity costs

b. bad habit

c. a new selling point

d. dispute between culture and health

2. How many 11-year-olds are overweight or obese, according to government figures?

a. 10%

b. 50%

c. 90%

d. 33%