NOTHING AT SCHOOL SHOULD ENCOURAGE UNHEALTHY CHOICES
Let’s Do Better for the Children! – A Healthy Caribbean Coalition Campaign
While marketing like financial donations, sponsorships, scholarships and donations of branded items may seem helpful —and even harmless— on the surface, they pose four main problems:
- They promote unhealthy choices to impressionable children
- They build relationships and a financial dependency between these companies and our schools which make it harder for schools to support healthy food policies (that may not favour those companies)
- This, in turn, makes it harder to create a healthy food environment in our schools
- They violate children’s rights to health, adequate and nutritious food, privacy and freedom from economic exploitation.
Children spend many hours at school and studies prove that what they eat and drink, and are influenced to eat and drink during their early years, fosters lifelong habits.
So, when our children are continuously presented with unhealthy food choices and bombarded with messaging that makes these unhealthy choices seem normal, acceptable and appealing, it’s setting them up for a life of poor dietary choices and poor health.
As a society, we must do better for the children.
It’s time to ban the marketing of ultra-processed products in and around our schools.
Because nothing at school should ever encourage unhealthy choices!
What happens when the food we provide and encourage our children to eat is ultra-processed and high in sugar, fat, sodium and additives like dyes?
Our children and our region face suffering that could be easily avoided.
In the Caribbean, 1 in every 3 children is currently overweight or living with obesity, and at risk for serious health conditions like type 2 diabetes, hypertension, high cholesterol and heart disease.
This is an escalating issue, not just in terms of individual suffering, but at a national and regional level with rising medical costs and a huge portion of medical attention being pulled away from other issues.
Is this what we want for our children?
Funding is a constant concern when running a school and there can never be too much when it comes to creating the best opportunities for our children.
But if donations, cheques, sponsorships, scholarships, or giveaways are given in exchange for providing or promoting unhealthy ultra-processed products or brands to our children, is it worth the harm being introduced?
Unhealthy food and drink brands may seem to be filling a funding gap, but at what cost to our children?
Unhealthy food and drink companies use marketing tactics like sponsorships, donations and giveaways which seem, on the surface, to be goodwill for the children; but they cultivate brand loyalty and a new, young customer base who become lifelong consumers.
Unhealthy food and drink companies may also bank on their actions making them look good to the public and building connections that pave their way into policymaking conversations.
We wouldn’t accept these donations and sponsorships from cigarette or alcohol companies no matter how much they were offering!
It’s time we start viewing unhealthy food companies in a similar light since these ultra-processed products can also lead to serious health problems like obesity, diabetes, heart disease and even some cancers.
Let’s protect our children by promoting only healthy food AND healthy food habits in and around our schools.
Surrounding our children with marketing that encourages them to consume, desire, and ask for ultra-processed products is harmful.
So why do we continue to accept unhealthy food and drink products as part of daily school life and school events?
Why do we continue to allow these unhealthy food and drink companies to influence our school environment by having a say in our school nutrition policy?
It’s time we question the choices we take for granted when it comes to food and drink and the marketing we allow in and around our schools!
Let’s get these products out of our schools and get their influence out of our children’s minds.
Launch Date: April 7th 2025
Locale: Regional/Caribbean
Type: Social Media Campaign
Purpose: To advocate for a ban on the marketing of ultra-processed products in and around schools, and school environments free from the influence of unhealthy food and drink companies.
Report – Regulating the Availability and Marketing of Unhealthy Beverages and Food Products in and around Schools in the Caribbean – September 2022 Read/download
Model Policy and Legislative Guidance for Regulating the Availability and Marketing of Unhealthy Beverages and Food Products in and around Schools in the Caribbean – September 2022 Read/download
On September 7th 2022, the Healthy Caribbean Coalition (HCC) in partnership with regional and national partners launched a digital campaign titled #ActOnFacts: The Food in Our Schools Matters, to encourage public and policymaker support for policies that limit the sale and marketing of unhealthy foods and drinks in and around schools, while increasing the availability of nutritious foods, healthier snacks and drinking water. Read more