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The $70 billion Australian junk food industry is now applying PR strategies [6] originally developed by the tobacco industry [7] in a bid to avoid government regulation. Australia's federal government is readying a report about reducing obesity, which could lead to higher taxes on unhealthy foods and a ban on junk food advertising. In anticipation, junk and snack food companies are playing down the health risks of their products, adopting voluntary advertising codes [8], producing "healthier" smaller and lower-sugar versions of candies and chocolate bars, arranging for food industry representatives to sit on regulatory boards, and funding educational programs to try to look like good corporate citizens [9]. For example, McDonald's [10] started providing free online math tutorials [11] for children, similar to cigarette companies' youth education and prevention programs [12], launched to blunt the push for regulation. One leading health source noticed the resemblance between the food industry's tactics to those employed by Big Tobacco [13]: ''Deny the evidence, delay, infiltrate yourself into governments, have big lobbying outfits, work through voluntary codes. It's the same techniques."
Links:
[1] http://dev.prwatch.org/users/5684/anne-landman
[2] http://dev.prwatch.org/topics/corporations/corporate-social-responsibility
[3] http://dev.prwatch.org/topics/health
[4] http://dev.prwatch.org/topics/tobacco
[5] http://www.addtoany.com/share_save?linkurl=http%3A%2F%2Fdev.prwatch.org%2Fspin%2F2009%2F08%2F8493%2Fjunk-food-industry-applies-tobaccos-pr-strategies&linkname=Junk%20Food%20Industry%20Applies%20Tobacco%27s%20PR%20Strategies
[6] http://www.prwatch.org/node/8482
[7] http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/tobacco_industry
[8] http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/voluntary_codes
[9] http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Corporate_Social_Responsibility
[10] http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/McDonald's
[11] http://news.theage.com.au/breaking-news-national/mcdonalds-maths-program-not-an-ad-20090320-9451.html
[12] http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Tobacco_Industry_Youth_Smoking_Prevention_Programs_
[13] http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Tobacco_industry_public_relations_strategies
[14] http://www.theage.com.au/national/how-fast-food-took-a-leaf-out-of-tobaccos-book-20090808-edm7.html