Misleading marketing of unhealthy foods and beverages to children in South Africa as a consumer protection issue

Abstract

Childhood overweight and obesity, which predisposes children to various non-communicable diseases, is a fast-rising public health burden in South Africa. Children are growing up in an obesogenic food environment that features intense marketing of unhealthy food and beverages using various channels and appealing strategies including misleading health and nutrition claims. This paper examines the applicability of the Consumer Protection Act No. 68 of 2008 (the CPA) in addressing the misleading marketing of unhealthy foods to children. The Act provides certain standards to guide the marketing of goods, including the prohibition of false, misleading, or deceptive representation of material facts. The paper examines the legal prohibition of false, misleading, or deceptive representations in marketing and how they have been interpreted by the National Consumer Tribunal and the courts. It also explores avenues among the redress processes and mechanisms provided in the CPA in addressing misleading marketing of unhealthy food and beverages to children. The overall aim is to show that the South African consumer protection legal framework offers a viable opportunity amongst other legal and policy measures to address misleading marketing of unhealthy foods and beverages to children.

HIGHLIGHTS • Misleading health/nutrition claims on otherwise unhealthy food products is a common strategy in child-directed marketing which contributes to childhood overweight and obesity in South Africa. • Under the Consumer Protection Act No. 68 of 2008, misleading health/nutrition claims not only constitute material misrepresentation but are also reasonably likely to mislead or deceive children as well as their parents or caregivers. • The South African consumer protection legal framework offers a viable opportunity, among other legal and policy measures, to address the misleading marketing of unhealthy foods and beverages to children.