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Quote:

From The Times
London, UK
26 July, 2019

Stop tempting shoppers to buy junk food, stores told

Supermarkets should remove junk food from shelves at eye level to help tackle the obesity crisis, experts have said.

The Royal Society for Public Health (RSPH) said in a report that store layouts were designed to tempt shoppers into making extra purchases, particularly of unhealthy options.

“Supermarkets contribute to overconsumption of calories, using various tactics to convince consumers to buy more items,” it said. “Layout, promotions and sensory cues all influence consumers to maximise profit, with little regard for the nutritional value of products promoted to consumers.”

Customers were often unaware that they were being influenced by techniques such as promotions on unhealthy foods because these had become “normalised” in supermarkets.

The Health on the Shelf report, by the RSPH and Slimming World, said an audit of supermarkets found that four in ten products positioned in prominent areas or display units were sugary foods and drinks, and nearly nine in ten products placed at a child’s eye level throughout stores were unhealthy.

More than a third of shoppers had bought unhealthy food on impulse because they saw it on offer and a fifth said shopping in a supermarket had caused them to go off track in their diet if they were attempting to slim.

Three quarters of parents had been pestered by their children to buy items during the supermarket shop, and 88 per cent of these requests were for junk food.

“The combination of ‘pester power’ and the availability of unhealthy products in supermarkets is a clear contributor to the high levels of childhood obesity,” the report said.

Supermarket layouts were designed to encourage shoppers to buy more than they needed, it claimed. Tactics used included: putting fruit and vegetables at the front of the shop so people felt justified in treating themselves to unhealthy options later; and placing milk and bread towards the back so that shoppers had to pass through aisles of tempting products to buy essentials.

The government is consulting on whether promotions for products high in fat, sugar and salt should be limited or banned, and whether these products should be allowed to remain in prominent positions on shop shelves.

Shirley Cramer, chief executive of the RSPH, said: “Supermarkets have the power and influence as well as a responsibility in tackling their contribution to this ‘obesogenic’ environment.” She praised stores that had removed junk food from checkouts but said they needed to do more to promote healthy choices.

Carolyn Pallister, of Slimming World, said: “If supermarkets empowered their consumers to make these changes themselves through creating an environment which promoted a healthier diet, they could become part of the solution in helping to tackle the obesity epidemic.”

The British Retail Consortium, which represents supermarkets, said they had “led the way” on encouraging healthy choices by heavily promoting fruit and vegetables and reformulating labels to show a “traffic light” system that warned when products were unhealthy.

Its spokesman, Ewan MacDonald-Russell, said: “The retail industry is open to government action — for example around multi-buy promotions. It’s worth noting any measures need to apply to all food and drink businesses to ensure the largest number of people possible can benefit.”

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/...-told-r76rdzq80