Coco the Monkey banned from advertising ‘healthier’ granola
JUNK food firms have been told they cannot use cartoon characters to target children, even if they are promoting healthy food.
Advertising watchdogs have banned a television advert for Kellogg’s Coco Pops Granola because it features Coco the Monkey, the Coco Pops mascot.
Although Coco Pops Granola is not officially classed as junk food, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) ruled it should be banned because Coco the Monkey would remind children of Coco Pops – which is classed as a junk food.
The ASA has banned the advertisement of products high in fat, salt or sugar (HFSS) if more than 25 per cent of the programme’s audience is under the age of 16. The banned advert for Kellogg’s Coco Pops Granola appeared in January between episodes of a Mr Bean cartoon. Kellogg’s said: “We are disappointed with this decision as we ensured throughout the advert that we were only promoting the Coco Pops Granola product, a cereal that can be advertised in children’s airtime.
“It’s particularly surprising when a ruling from the television regulator Ofcom published on Monday confirmed that an advert for the same product was not in breach of the advertising code.”
The ASA cleared two Mcdonald’s ads, the first for a Happy Meal which appeared between episodes of Peppa Pig on the Video on Demand service Ketchup TV, on the grounds that it did not feature any HFSS products.
Caroline Cerny, from the Obesity Health Alliance, said: “The ruling on Coco Pops Granola provides an important precedent for junk food marketing.
“This ruling recognises that, even though the product shown is classified as ‘healthier’, the advert used all the same features as adverts for original Coco Pops cereal and therefore essentially promoted the less healthy product, which is not acceptable.
“We are very supportive of brands reformulating their products to reduce sugar and overall calories, but they must market them responsibly.”
The Government has proposed a 9pm watershed for advertising unhealthy products as part of the second chapter of its childhood obesity strategy.