Editorial: Asda milk ad ban is bananas

raisins, cheese and olive oil as unhealthy.

Not surprisingly, the retailer used its considerable media muscle to
weigh into Ofcom and the broadcast restrictions, pointing out that they
fail to consider the positive nutritional content of products, such as
the high level of calcium in milk. Asda also rightly seizes on research
by the National Diet and Nutrition Survey, which found that one in eight
boys aged four to 11 and one in four girls had lower than recommended
levels of calcium.

The Asda whole-milk ad ban gives the industry its own 'straight banana'.
The EU regulation 2257/94, which stated that bananas must be 'free of
abnormal curvature', garnered huge media coverage in our nation of
Eurosceptics back in 1995 and exposed one of the more ludicrous
encroachments of EU law-making.

Just as it is impossible to impose law and order on fruit and
vegetables, the regulators have received their first embarrassing
reminder that it is impossible to apply a pure scientific measure to
distinguish unhealthy foods from healthy.

Wherever the line is drawn, there will be anomalies. To pick on a few
children's favourites, McDonald's chicken nuggets fall on one side of
the FSA line, while Sunmaid Raisins fall on the other - neither on the
side that most people would expect. Other products banned from
advertising to children include Marmite, most breakfast cereals and
honey.

The system gives rise to a scenario where McDonald's may advertise many
of its products across ad breaks on children's TV channels whereas whole
milk, cheese and breakfast staples will be conspicuously absent.

The only way to make sense of the mess is to start, artificially and
subjectively, moving items and brands from one side to the other - an
option that is as undesirable as it would be politically
unpalatable.

All of this comes at a time when The Television Advertising (Food) Bill,
supported by more than 200 MPs including Labour deputy leader hopeful
Harriet Harman is due to receive its second reading in the House of
Lords. The Private Members' Bill aims to introduce a 9pm advertising
watershed and restrict food 'ranges' that contain HFSS items - in
essence extending a wall already built on shaky foundations.

Asda's banned milk ad shows that the government must re-examine and
rebuild those foundations, with the support and advice of food and drink
advertisers. Without the assistance of the industry, further 'straight
bananas' are inevitable and the ad ban will descend into chaos.

Advertisers will not benefit from sitting back and watching the ban's
shortcomings prove its undoing. At home, watching ad breaks, are
millions of confused consumers who will assume that incoherent
advertising content is the fault of advertisers, not Ofcom. We owe it to
them, and ourselves, to help sort out the mess.