What’s Food Fight all about?

It’s time to put the health of our kids above the profits of the processed food industry.  

Our vision

We all want our kids to enjoy a healthy childhood, free from the influence of unhealthy food and drink advertising.

But the processed food industry spends millions of dollars every year to advertise unhealthy food and drink in places where they know children will see it.

Advertising works, and it’s influencing what our kids eat, want to eat and what they ask for.

This consumption of unhealthy, processed food and drinks leads to poor diets, increasing the likelihood of serious disease, including 13 types of cancer later in life.

Publicly owned advertising space, including at bus stops, train stations and public billboards, present an opportunity to promote good diets and healthy lifestyles, helping to provide children with healthy environments to grow up within. 

To give our kids  the best chance of growing up healthy we must protect them from the processed food industry. We want to restrict this advertising:

• within 500m of schools, and
• on public transport and public transport infrastructure (i.e. stations, platforms, stops and shelters).

Together, we can protect our kids from the processed food industry. Sign our statement to show your support.

The link between diet and cancer

Children need good nutrition for healthy growth and development. What children eat can affect not only their physical health, but their mood, mental health and learning. Good nutrition is also important for their long-term health and for prevention of serious diseases like cancer later in life.

To maintain a healthy diet, the Australian Dietary Guidelines recommend we enjoy a wide variety of nutritious food and minimise processed foods high in saturated fats and added sugar. However, research shows the majority of food products promoted by the food industry on Melbourne’s public transport network and near schools are for unhealthy food and drinks. Meanwhile, only 6% of children are meeting the recommended number of serves for fruit and vegetables.

Over a third of Aussie kids’ daily energy intake is coming from unhealthy food and drink – that is processed foods high in energy, fat, salt and sugar - such as commercial fast food, sugary drinks, chocolate and sweet snacks. The Australian Dietary Guidelines refer to these as discretionary food.

Unhealthy diets high in processed foods can also lead to being above a healthy weight. Being above a healthy weight in childhood increases the likelihood of being above a healthy weight in adulthood, which in turn increases the risk of at least 13 different types of cancer. Being above a healthy weight causes nearly 5,300 cancer cases in Australian adults each year – and they are mostly preventable.