Lessons learned from tobacco control: Affecting product marketing by regulating the marketplace

While the U.S. Supreme Court has limited significantly the ability of government to regulate the commercial media environment to promote public health goals – whether related to tobacco products, unhealthy foods, or other advertising that entices unhealthy behavior – government agencies and public health advocates still can take action. Nutrition advocates should consider the ultimate objective: moderate the consumption of non-nutritious foods, especially among children. Directly restricting general advertising and promotion of non-nutritious food is only a means to this end, one that can run the risk of infringing speech rights protected by the First Amendment. However, many other legally valid means exist.

This presentation will touch on five possible focus areas for local policy change to improve the health of a community: (1) the school environment; (2) the built environment; (3) community facilities; (4) the point of sale environment; and (5) the use of taxes or fees as a funding source for nutrition policy work as well as a means of potentially reducing the consumption of unhealthy products. Laws and policies in these areas can be drafted to avoid infringing First Amendment rights and yet also be valuable tools in changing a community's environment so that healthy eating and physical activity become the norm.