Seven fast food franchise brands have signed up to an agreement to advertise only healthier options to young children. McDonald’s, KFC, Pizza Hut, Hungry Jacks, Oporto, Red Rooster and Chicken Treat have also committed to ensure nutrition information is up online or upon request in restaurants, and if possible, displayed on packaging.
The group of seven franchisors said it recognized that quick service restaurants have a significant role to play in ensuring consumers are able to make informed choices about the food and beverages they consume.
At Quick Service Restaurant Holdings, the parent company for the three chicken franchise brands Oporto, Red Rooster and Chicken Treat, chief executive officer Mark Lindsay explained the rationale behind the initiative.
“In response to community concern about the growing obesity problem, we have taken a proactive approach to self regulation. In simple terms the code will help consumers to make more informed purchasing decisions through better labelling and ensure responsible marketing to children is undertaken,” said Lindsay.
He said the code will have minimal impact on daily operations within QSRH’s three brands as the core range of healthy products already exists and Chicken Treat and Oporto do not specifically advertise to children.
“For Red Rooster it will shift the emphasis of some of our marketing campaigns to ensure we are aligned with the conditions of the code,” Lindsay said.
Lindsay added there would be a decreasing emphasis on the promotion of toys with meals at Red Rooster.
“Being signatory to the code represents a great opportunity to build credibility and trust with our customers through responsible development and advertising of our products.
“Our development team are continually looking at ways to reduce salt, fat and sugar levels of all products to meet the agreed nutritional targets and they will continue to do so,” Lindsay said.
Kristy Chong, corporate communications manager for McDonald’s, told Franchise.net.au the company’s participation in the initiative is a commitment to responsible advertising.
“It demonstrates we’re willing to be part of the solution and we’re listening to the community,” she said. “For the first time the general public can make the decision as to whether or not we’re promoting healthier choices,” said Chong.
McDonald’s has already reduced its toy advertising significantly, it only accounts for about three percent, and is not the major part of any advertising campaign, said Chong.
The initiative, which comes into effect on 1 August, has been developed in collaboration with the Australian Association of National Advertisers (AANA) as part of marketing and advertising self-regulation.
A defined set of nutrition criteria has been developed by a team of dietitians in consultation with national guidelines and child nutrition experts.
All complaints will be handled by the Advertising Standards Bureau, so consumers have a single source for complaint resolution.