• by Karlene Lukovitz  @KLmarketdaily, October 11, 2011

In a Congressional hearing Oct. 12, David Vladeck, director of the Federal Trade Commission’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, will present changes to the Interagency Working Group’s (IWG) proposed guidelines for marketing food to children -- including narrowing their reach to those 11 and younger rather than those up to age 17, except in in-school marketing, according to Broadcasting & Cable.

According to B&C, which based its report on a copy of Vladeck’s testimony, Vladeck will state during the hearing that, based on vetting comments about the proposal, the FTC also is contemplating revising the marketing guidelines from encompassing all marketing forms to one that focuses on the marketing techniques that are most used to reach children. The revisions reflect industry concerns and would make the guidelines similar to the existing voluntary, self-regulatory industry guidelines from the Children’s Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative.

According to the report, Vladeck will state that the government “cannot ask more of food marketers than they can reasonably deliver if we expect continued cooperation in this effort.”

The hearing, dubbed “Food Marketing: Can ‘Voluntary’ Government Restrictions Improve Children’s Health?,” was called by subcommittees of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. That committee’s chairman, Fred Upton (R-Mich.), recently asked that the proposed guidelines, which were released in April for public commentary, be withdrawn. Instead, he maintained, the IWG should conduct a scientific study on childhood obesity and an evaluation of the benefits and costs of the different approaches that Congress could take.

A letter to Upton in response, from the FTC, USDA and Department of Health and Human Services, already acknowledged that “significant changes” in the proposed guidelines were in the works.

Wednesday’s hearing will also include testimony by officials from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Centers for Disease Control (but not the Food and Drug Administration, the fourth agency in the IWG); and representatives of the Campbell Soup Company, the Association of National Advertisers, the Economic Policy Institute, the Center for Science in the Public Interest, and other organizations.