Food and Drink Companies Pledge to Change Advertising to Children
31 South African Food, Beverage, Retail and Quick Service Restaurant companies today announced a common commitment to change the way they market and advertise to children.

The move follows recent international developments in which some of the participating companies have made similar individual commitments on food and beverage advertising to children.

Initiated by the Consumer Goods Council of South Africa (CGCSA) The South African Pledge on Marketing to Children is a voluntary commitment by the industry to undertake advertising and marketing initiatives that emphasise nutritional awareness and promote responsible marketing to children.

“This Pledge is an important milestone in indicating the South African Food and Beverage industry commitment to the Global Strategy on Diet, Physical Activity and Health in improving nutrition and promoting healthy a lifestyle,” said CGCSA spokesperson, Nick Tselentis.

The participating companies all commit to implementing industry and company-specific, voluntary measures on food and beverage advertising to children. All company commitments will meet the following minimum standards:

1. There will be no advertising of products to children 12 years and under, except for products which fulfill specific nutritional criteria, based on accepted scientific evidence and/ or per the South African dietary guidelines, in accordance with Appendix M (the Food and Beverage Code) of the Code of Advertising Practice, as administered by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA).  (For the purpose of this initiative advertising to ‘children 12 years and under’ means advertising to media audiences with at least 50% of the target market being 12 and under).
   • The Food and Beverage Code currently extends to television advertising and marketing communications on or in close proximity to pre-school and primary school premises.
   • The Food and Beverage Code also specifically addresses product endorsements and marketing promotions aimed at children.
2. The signatories also agree not to communicate on product in primary schools, except where specifically requested by, or agreed with, the school administration for educational purposes.
3. The signatories agree that their commitments be monitored by an independent monitoring system to review progress.

The South African Pledge on Marketing to Children is to be read in addition to the current stipulations of the Code of Advertising Practice.

For all press inquiries please contact: Nick Tselentis, Consumer Goods Council of South Africa, (011) 789 5777 or email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Background: The CGCSA represents over 10,000 member companies in the RSA; it was formed in 2002 by merging GS1 South Africa (formerly EAN South Africa), the Grocery Manufacturers’ Association and ECR South Africa including Crime Prevention Programme, and since 2006, includes the Food Safety Initiative. The CGCSA aims to give, on behalf of its members, a single voice to Government and other key bodies on all relevant industry, non-competitive, legal and regulatory affairs. As such, the CGCSA is generally mandated to deal with best practices, standards, food safety, crime prevention and legal and regulatory issues in the FMCG industry. It does not act as a referee nor as an enforcer and its key objective is to assist and facilitate the enhancement of supply chain efficiencies in the FMCG industry in the RSA.