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Mexico started putting ads on cigarettes on how it causes death. Graphic images as well. Then they started adding labels to food, "excess sodium / sugar", etc. Then they banned mascots on food products. No more Toucan Sam or Tony the Tiger. Though the last thing seemed a bit excessive, the cereal does look more generic and I know that as a kid, I asked for name brand cereal. I hope they target fast food ads next depicting great looking food that in reality usually look as if it was stepped on.

>No more Toucan Sam or Tony the Tiger. Though the last thing seemed a bit excessive, the cereal does look more generic and I know that as a kid, I asked for name brand cereal.

Nah advertising to kids is a bunch of bullshit. It should not be allowed in general and definitely not for things that are harmful to them.

If it's bad for kids, what makes it any better for adults?

Advertising at its core is one adult telling adult about something. There's utility there and it seems like a pretty fundamental right. Though I agree that it's warped into a bit of a monster and should be dialed in a bit.

Surely you can argue it is a fundamental right to have communication between consenting adults. But often in the case of advertising, the receiving party does not really have a choice. I would sooner argue that it should be a fundamental right to not be on the receiving end of communications you don't want, than that it should be a fundamental right to advertise to people who do not want to be advertised to.

This is my key argument on why billboards and similar advertising that can’t be avoided if you’re in public shouldn’t be allowed. There’s been no consent obtained.

>But often in the case of advertising, the receiving party does not really have a choice

I can't think of a situation where that's true.

Adults presumably are adults.

Ads for adults is hardly better...

I was in Cancun, MX recently and bought a box of Oreos at the resort shop. There were stickers on it with multiple warnings. I was quite surprised, but pleased to see the government making an effort to reduce consumption.

Oreos: https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/tijuana-mexico-sept...

Lucky Charms: https://i.redd.it/8l2z1fa5q3w71.jpg

Obesity is a problem, however, it's hard for people to download an app and gain hundreds or thousands of pounds on a single night.

>download an app and gain hundreds or thousands of pounds on a single night.

Home delivery apps do that. Although I am not sure if "pound "is a unit for weight or currency in this case.

If it's currency - in the UK, there are mandatory loss limits (esp. for new accounts). If weight thousand[s] of pounds is unrealistic gain to anyone.

That's not really the problem with gambling either, though. The problem is addiction.

That's true but it would be extremely expensive if not impossible to implement therapy for all the addictive people in the world (most people, including me). So we just have to accept addiction and then try not to deliberately encourage the more damaging addictions. So addiction to coffee is not great but it doesn't do that much damage. Addiction to cigarettes does much more damage so while we don't probit it we don't allow people to deliberately encourage it via advertising.

Addiction to coffee? Are there a lot of people for whom coffee is harmful yet they keep on drinking it? The only people I know who say coffee is bad for them don't drink it.

Obese people, on the other hand, continue to eat despite knowing it makes them fat and unhealthy. It's an addiction just like cigarettes and should be treated the same.

Indeed; gambling as a business model, be it betting apps or gacha games, relies on hooking in "whales" (gambling addicts) for most of their profits.

2025, now: https://www.just-food.com/news/uk-government-delays-junk-foo...

This is like when people say that consuming meat is a problem for climate change, completely ignoring the utility of meat. Obesity is a problem, but at least food, even fast food, even junk food, has some utility, whereas gambling has none at all.

I don’t think people who say meat is a problem for climate change are ignoring the utility of meat. They’re just pointing out that meat is a problem for climate change. Which it is, regardless of utility.

> has some utility, whereas gambling has none at all.

Different people have different preferences. It's like saying anything that provides only recreational/etc. value has not utility.

It’s entertainment. Isn’t that utility?

People also build community around it and make friends.

Certainly sports betting makes watching professional sports (which have no utility) far more interesting. Like spiking a drink.

It gives people a reason to watch soccer. Watching 90 minutes of a zero zero game is pretty boring unless you bet on that outcome.

> gambling has none at all

It pays for newspapers.

I didn't say fast food should be banned. I said fast food advertising.

Do you have examples of food advertisements in the Guardian?

From their own website, a case study in their partnership with Ocado [0]. In summary "For a whole year, Ocado own all ad inventory in Feast [the Grauniads online food magazine] – both print and online"

[0] https://advertising.theguardian.com/advertising/case-studies...

In Australia at least they partner with another magazine (broadsheet) which is basically all about food and entertainment.

They have two in-house restaurant reviewers.

One of these is Jay Rayner [0]. His reviews are not always positive for the restaurant concerned [e.g. 1], so I don't count them as pure advertising.

[0] https://www.theguardian.com/profile/jayrayner

[1] https://www.theguardian.com/food/2023/apr/23/jay-rayner-rest...

Jay Rayner writes for The Observer, which is a sister publication of The Guardian.

Well, and the Guardian.

Here's today's piece (a Thursday, not the Observer's Sunday):

https://www.theguardian.com/food/2023/jun/15/shopping-bags-t...

Ah, indeed. Thanks. I ought to have been more precise about what he writes about on a Sunday.

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