Consumer groups chew out Cadbury’s sports scheme

Consumer groups have branded Cadbury's Get Active promotion scheme as an “irresponsible ploy to encourage unhealthy eating among kids”.

Cadbury's 'Free Sports Kit 4 Schools' scheme offers sports equipment to schools in exchange for Cadbury's chocolate bar wrappers, claiming that it will encourage children to get more active. But experts are concerned that children will have to buy hundreds of chocolate bars before a school can receive any sports equipment – 320 bars for a volleyball and almost 5,500 bars, costing around £2,000, for volleyball posts.

The Food Commission said that the scheme was absurd and the Consumers' Association (CA) has accused Cadbury of going “one step too far” by linking the consumption of chocolate to exercise. Both groups urged the government to withdraw its support for the scheme, which is endorsed by Sport Minister Richard Caborn, and to conduct a proper assessment of the scheme.

The CA say that the government's approach to these types of schemes has been "highly contradictory" with the development of action plans on nutrition running parallel to the rubber stamping of corporate schemes which encourage school children to eat crisps and chocolate. The Association called for a co-ordinated, cross-governmental approach to ensure that the welfare of children is placed above corporate interests.

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) - currently working on a plan to improve nutrition in the UK - has also come under fire for failing to adopt a firmer stance on these types of marketing schemes.

Commenting on the launch of 'Free Sports Kit 4 Schools' scheme, Sheila McKechnie, Director, Consumers' Association, said: "Linking exercise to the consumption of chocolate is nothing short of a scandal. While it is fine to indulge once in a while, this type of corporate exploitation of children has to stop.

"This isn't social responsibility it is social negligence. If Cadbury genuinely cares about the health of children it should donate the sports equipment rather then using it as an excuse to encourage children to shovel chocolate down their throats."

A spokesperson for Cadbury Schweppes, defending the scheme, said that the point was not to get children to eat more products, but for all the children in a school to club together and use the wrappers from the bars that they are already consuming.

In the UK one-in-five children under four are overweight and one in 10 are classed as obese.

(SP)