Jensen J D, Ronit K
Department of Food and Resource Economics, University of Copenhagen, Rolighedsvej, Frederiksberg C, Denmark.
Department of Political Science, University of Copenhagen, Øster Farimagsgade, København K, Denmark.
Eur J Clin Nutr. 2015 Aug;69(8):896-901. doi: 10.1038/ejcn.2015.52. Epub 2015 Apr 1.
BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Increasing political pressure on the food industry's marketing activities stimulated the formation of the collective EU Pledge for responsible marketing of foods and beverages to children. The objective of the study is to evaluate the commitments made by companies in joining the pledge for the purpose of assessing its effectiveness in regulating signatory companies' marketing activities.
SUBJECTS/METHODS: Data on company commitments in relation to the EU Pledge were collected, analyzed and recalculated in order to enable comparison across companies and with general nutritional recommendations. Data on companies' product portfolio and market orientation were collected from their most recent available annual reports. Data on the companies' product profiles were generated via review of the companies' main websites. Similar data were generated for a reference group of companies outside the EU Pledge.
Compared with a reference group of large food and beverage companies, EU Pledge signatory companies have a public image strongly based on products with appeal to children. The EU Pledge sets common standards for regulating signatory companies' marketing behaviour towards children. Further scrutiny of the companies' stated commitments revealed considerable variation in their actual content and in their de facto bindingness on the companies' marketing behavior--for example, in the definition of target audience for advertising or in nutritional characteristics making products eligible for advertising to children.
In order for voluntary self-regulation schemes such as the EU Pledge to be a credible alternative to public regulation of marketing behaviour, more transparency and stringency are needed.
背景/目的：食品行业营销活动面临的政治压力不断增加，促使欧盟形成了关于向儿童负责任营销食品和饮料的集体承诺。本研究的目的是评估各公司在加入该承诺时所做出的承诺，以评估其对签署承诺公司营销活动的监管效果。
对象/方法：收集、分析和重新计算与欧盟承诺相关的公司承诺数据，以便在不同公司之间进行比较，并与一般营养建议进行比较。从各公司最新的年度报告中收集有关其产品组合和市场定位的数据。通过审查公司的主要网站生成有关公司产品概况的数据。为欧盟承诺之外的一组参考公司生成了类似的数据。
与大型食品和饮料公司的参考组相比，欧盟承诺签署公司的公众形象强烈基于对儿童有吸引力的产品。欧盟承诺为规范签署公司对儿童的营销行为设定了共同标准。对公司声明的承诺进行进一步审查发现，其实际内容以及对公司营销行为的实际约束力存在很大差异——例如，在广告目标受众的定义或使产品有资格向儿童做广告的营养特征方面。
为了使诸如欧盟承诺这样的自愿自我监管计划成为对营销行为进行公共监管的可靠替代方案，需要更高的透明度和严格性。
