A letter from the Health Minister, Chua Soi Lek, to the Malaysian 4As stated that the Government would withdraw its plans for a light touch on fast food advertising, and review the possibility of an outright ban.
The about-face comes four months after Chua had agreed to rescind suggestions he made earlier this summer (Media, 3 May) that fast food was as unhealthy as alcohol and tobacco, so advertising it shouldn’t be allowed on television.
The about-face comes four months after Chua had agreed to rescind suggestions he made earlier this summer (Media, 3 May) that fast food was as unhealthy as alcohol and tobacco, so advertising it shouldn’t be allowed on television.
4As president Datuk Vincent Lee confirmed the news, and blamed TV stations for dragging their heels over their own proposals for self-regulation.
The Health Minister had grown impatient, Lee said, because media owners had failed to suggest which programmes they would volunteer to be off-limits for fast food advertisers.
The original self-regulation proposals, drafted by the 4As, consented to making programmes in which children make up more than four per cent of the audience fast food ad-free.
