WHO wants to protect children from online advertising

Advertising for products with a high fat, sugar or salt content should not be aimed at under-16s. Children are the least protected group and as such are exposed to countless hidden digital marketing techniques that advertise foods high in fat, sugar and salt. The result is an unhealthy diet and obesity.

Digital analysis options and location data from mobile devices allow companies to identify target groups with great precision, warns the European WHO office in a report published on Friday. According to the report, an "extensive, highly complex advertising system" has developed in digital media, which can be used to reach a specific audience in a much more targeted way than on radio or television.

Dangers underestimated

For example, fast food chains are able to use cell phone location data to send advertising and offers in real time to users who are in the vicinity of branches. The aim is to inspire children with emotional and entertaining experiences and encourage them to share these experiences with their friends. Many parents are not aware that their children's data is being collected when they visit certain websites or play games. It is therefore necessary for governments to become more involved and set up monitoring bodies, the WHO demands. In previous reports, the WHO had already called for unhealthy foods to be banned from advertising.

More and more children are suffering from obesity. The WHO sees a connection with the marketing of high-calorie products: "The marketing of foods with excessive energy, fat, sugar or salt content has been shown to have harmful effects on children, as it encourages the development of unhealthy preferences and habits," warned the WHO last year. (SDA)

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