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A report titled 50 Shades of Food Advertising, released by the Nutrition Advocacy of Public Interest (NAPi) stated that advertisements high salt food products (HFSS) and ultra-processed foods (UPF) are highly misleading to consumers. Identified as the one of the key reasons for public health concerns like diabetes and obesity, advertisements of such foods were branded as ‘seductive, luring, manipulative or deceptive, for the people.
Further stating that these ‘unhealthy’ products induce emotional feelings, utilises celebrity endorsements to increase brand value, appropriate the uses of real fruit and manipulating expert views due to falsely projecting them as ‘good for you.’ The findings of the report, which are conclusions to observational studies of over 50 food products that have been advertised both – online and offline – on social media, during commercial breaks of cricket matches, as well as English and Hindi newspapers in Delhi.
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While NAPi’s convenor and paediatrician – Arun Gupta – called for simple measures such as disclosing the amount of nutrient concern per 100 grams/mls of a food product in every advertisement, he also appealed in favour of amending existing regulations that would stop the perpetration of misleading advertisements. The report, which follows in quick succession the ICMR-NIN’s 2024 dietary guidelines that declared more than 10% of children aged between 5-10 years suffered from prediabetic symptoms.
