Cancer charity wants junk food ads junked to tackle childhood obesity

Consumers in Wales are being urged to support a campaign that aims to tackle childhood obesity which is on the rise.

According to figures one in three children in Wales were overweight or obese.

The campaign, by Cancer Research UK, is called 'Junk Free TV', and calls on the government to cut out junk food advertising from before the 9pm watershed.

According to the charity this could help protect children's health and cut their risk of developing cancer in later life.

The call comes after a study showed the negative impact of TV advertising on youngsters' food choices.

Children, between 8 and 12 years from six schools across the UK, were interviewed about two different junk food ads. The ads used words like 'tempting' and 'addictive' to describe what they had seen.

According to Alison Birkett of Cancer Research UK, ''Children in the region are regularly seeing adverts for junk food that make them feel hungry and influence what they eat. For the children who took part in our research, in many cases the adverts had a direct effect with some more likely to ''plead'', ''nag'' or ''beg'' their parents for things they had seen on TV, particularly new junk food products, flavours or eye catching pack designs,'' television channel ITV reported in its online edition.

After watching a TV commercial for sweets, a primary five pupil from North Lanarkshire said, ''It makes you feel as if you're happy and excited and it feels like you want to try it because the guy's dancing in it because he's eaten it and it tastes good,'' Glasgow-based Evening Times reported.

Another primary seven pupil said, ''I do go out and talk to my friends because, say, we were planning to like meet at the shopping centre. I would maybe tell them like 'Oh do you remember that [sweet] advert? It's just in that shop there, why don't we go buy them?' So it's just, I do that for like a reminder almost.''