The 4A's and other marketing and advertising groups have been carefully following a new initiative from the federal government that would provide voluntary guidelines for the marketing of food to children. The guidelines are part of a Congressionally mandated effort to reduce the growing problem of childhood obesity and were due on July 15.

A spokesperson for the Federal Trade Commission, the lead agency on the project, announced that the deadline would be extended but did not give a reason for the extension or a new expected date of publication. The FTC is working with Department of Agriculture, the Food and Drug Administration, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to formulate the guidelines.

The Four-Agency Working Group held a day-long workshop in December 2009 to discuss a possible draft of the guidelines (download the transcript). Since that time, advertising industry leaders have been studying the draft guidelines. In many cases they found the proposals were "very extreme."

"We are concerned that the proposed guidelines are so extreme as to virtually end all advertising of food to children,” said Dick O'Brien, head of the 4A's Washington office. "Many products that provide healthy nutrition to children would not meet these guidelines," he said, "including Cheerios and many types of yogurt, all of which are important in children's diets."

Manufacturers and marketers as well as parents and other citizens will have an opportunity to provide public comment on the voluntary rules once the guidelines are published in the Federal Register.

For further discussion of the issue of food marketing and the role of government, see "Ad Rules Stall, Keeping Cereal a Cartoon Staple," (The New York Times, July 23, 2010).

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