It looks like the auto industry is not the only one to deploy the Real-World Bully Maneuver in the current financial mess. Here we have an example of the Advertising Federation of Australia howling over proposed legislation to ban junk-food advertising on television before 9 PM in order to limit children's exposure. The ational Preventative Health Taskforce, which works to curb obesity, alcohol and smoking related illness, issued a recommendation in September, saying "New legal controls, including cross-border laws, are needed to halt all marketing of junk food and soft drinks to children up to 16 years, according to new proposals from obesity experts. The only promotions permitted to target children should be for foods which meet strict criteria for a healthy diet, says the International Association for the Study of Obesity’s policy arm, the International Obesity Taskforce." Legislatures in Queensland and South Australia have accordingly proposed new laws restricting junk food advertising on commercial television.

But the advertising industry and their junk food making clients aren't having it, and are pressuring the Federal government to step in and stop the bans. Their reasoning? The economy will tank even futher:

From the Sydney Morning Herald: "The peak body for ad agencies, the Advertising Federation of Australia, says state and federal bans on junk foods and alcohol would be counterintuitive.

The federation's executive director, Mark Champion, said: "This is not the time to destimulate the economy, certainly not when $20 billion is being spent [by the Government] stimulating it.""

So according to the Advertising Federation of Australia, children's health must be sacrificed to the economy. This economic crisis is being leveraged by industry groups around the world as to shrug off regulation they find uncomfortable.

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