News

UNICEF Report: Children “feeding profit” amid global surge in junk food marketing

Published

11 months ago

2025/10/6

Children around the world are being relentlessly targeted by the ultra-processed food and beverage industry, according to a new UNICEF report that warns of a deepening crisis in global child nutrition. The report, titled Feeding Profit: How Food Environments Are Failing Children, was released last month in New York and paints a stark picture of the digital-age food marketing landscape.

The report reveals that children and adolescents are now a core commercial audience for the ultra-processed food industry — bombarded daily by highly strategic marketing for sugary drinks, snacks, and fast food. From social media to schools, billboards to video games, young people are surrounded by advertising designed to exploit their vulnerabilities, build early brand loyalty, and shape long-term eating habits.

“Children are being fed a steady diet of persuasive, unhealthy food marketing — often without even realising it,” said UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell. “This is not just a public health issue, but a child rights issue.”

UNICEF’s global U-Report poll, conducted in 2024 among over 64,000 young people, aged 13–24 across 171 countries, shows that 75% of respondents saw ads for sugary drinks, fast food or snacks in just the previous week. The main culprit? Digital platforms.

More than half (52%) encountered food ads via social media, followed by other websites (46%) and television (43%). The pattern held across income levels, with upper-middle-income countries showing the highest exposure (90%) — but exposure was also “alarmingly high” in low-income countries (65%) and even in conflict-affected areas (68%).

In war-impacted nations like Ukraine (84%), Iraq (82%), and Lebanon (81%), children reported near-constant exposure to these ads.

The report argues that such marketing directly undermines multiple rights enshrined in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, including the right to health, adequate nutrition, privacy, and access to unbiased information.

Younger children are especially vulnerable. Under the age of eight, most lack the cognitive ability to distinguish advertising from factual content, interpreting promotional messages as truth. Adolescents, while more cognitively developed, remain highly impressionable and susceptible to peer influence — factors that marketers knowingly exploit, according to UNICEF.

“This marketing ecosystem is not just pervasive — it’s predatory,” the report states.

UNICEF highlights how celebrities and influencers are increasingly central to these campaigns. In middle-income countries, nearly 30% of youth reported seeing food or drink endorsements from public figures. These tactics blur the lines between content and advertising, further complicating efforts to identify and resist unhealthy messages.

The emotional pull is powerful. In countries like India, South Africa, the Maldives, Viet Nam, and the Dominican Republic, children described feelings of excitement, temptation, and even helplessness when exposed to junk food marketing. Parents, in turn, reported feeling overwhelmed and powerless in the face of such constant influence.

It’s not just children being targeted. The report reveals that food packaging and advertising also exploit parents’ emotions and concerns — using claims of convenience, nutrition, or health benefits to drive purchases. In a separate analysis, UNICEF found that over 97% of child food products in parts of Africa and Southeast Asia carried inappropriate or misleading health claims.

UNICEF’s report concludes with a strong call for action. It recommends that governments urgently regulate digital marketing aimed at children, enforce clear labeling laws, and support parents with education campaigns on nutrition and marketing literacy.

“The ultimate goal,” the report says, “is a food environment where every child can grow, learn and thrive — not one where profit is prioritised over health.”

For now, however, children remain squarely in the crosshairs of a multi-billion-dollar industry that, as UNICEF warns, is feeding profit at the expense of their future.

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News

Establishment of National Trade Negotiation Committee (NTFC) and Trade Policy Consultation Committee.

Published

35 mins ago

2026/09/9

Priyan

Approval has been granted at the cabinet meeting held on 24-08-2026 to implement the recommendations submitted by the committee appointed to review Sri Lanka’s current Free Trade Agreements and future course of Free Trade Agreements in Sri Lanka.

Taking into account these recommendations, it has been
recognized the necessity of establishing a National Trade Negotiation Committee and Trade Policy Consultation Committee enabling Sri Lanka to follow a more targeted, sequential, and evidence-based approach in conducting negotiations for Sri Lanka’s future Free Trade Agreements and to ensure a sustainable and meaningful stakeholder consultation process.

The Cabinet of Ministers has approved the resolution furnished by the Minister of Trade, Commercial, Food Security, and Cooperative Development to act as follows.

• Establishment of a National Trade Negotiation Committee to guide trade discussions conducted with potential bilateral or regional trade partners
• Appointment of the Secretary to the Ministry of Trade, Commerce, Food Security, and Cooperative Development as the Chairman of the National Trade Negotiation Committee and
the Chief National Trade Negotiator.
• Establishment of 12 subject specific sub- committees with the required technical working groups under the National Trade Negotiation Committee
• Appointment of Trade Policy Consultative Committee comprising of trade experts, researchers engaged in research relevant to trade field, business community, unions, civil societies and relevant public officers to instruct the National Trade Negotiation Committee on active and technical sectors, to submit the policy recommendations to the Cabinet of Ministers regarding the matters relevant to the trade agreements, to inquire sustainable ideas regarding the Free Trade Agreements, and to ensure the communication mechanism.
• The Minister in charge of the Subject international trade and the Minister in charge of the subject of Industry to serve as Co-Chairpersons of the Trade Policy Advisory Committee.

News

Justice Minister hits back at CLA

Published

10 hours ago

2026/09/9

Sahan Weerasooriya

Harshana Nanayakkara

By Saman Indrajith

Justice Minister Harshana Nanayakkara yesterday told Parliament that the Commonwealth Lawyers’ Association (CLA) was not an organisation officially recognised or registered under the Commonwealth Secretariat, but a fee-levying private association.

Responding to a question by Opposition and SJB Leader Sajith Premadasa on why he had failed to meet CLA representatives, who recently visited Sri Lanka, Nanayakkara said he had offered them a date and time for a meeting, but they had been unable to attend.

The Commonwealth Lawyers Association (CLA) has questioned procedural fairness and other matters of concern in a report that deals with the Supreme Court hearing petitions against the 22nd Amendment to the Constitution. Among the issues raised by CLA President Steven Thiru, is the composition of the five-member bench.

The Minister said the CLA representatives subsequently requested another date, but he had already scheduled official engagements for the proposed day.

Nanayakkara said it was, therefore, incorrect to claim that he had refused to meet the CLA delegation.

“The CLA is not an official body accepted or admitted into the Commonwealth of countries. It is a private club whose members pay fees for membership,” he said.

However, the Minister said he was not suggesting that the organisation was “a bad organisation”, adding that the accuracy of several statements made by CLA members during their visit to Sri Lanka had yet to be established.

Nanayakkara identified lawyer Upul Jayasuriya as the CLA’s local representative and said Jayasuriya had sought a meeting with him.

“I gave him the opportunity, but he came up with the excuse that he could not make it as he was not in Colombo. Therefore, it is wrong to state that I did not give them time,” the Minister said.

News

First visit by an Indian Defence Minister since IPKF deployment

Published

10 hours ago

2026/09/9

Sahan Weerasooriya

Deputy Minister Maj. Gen. Aruna Jayasekera receiving Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on his arrival at the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) yesterday.

By Shamindra Ferdinando

Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh is in Colombo on a three-day official visit, the first by an Indian Defence Minister since the 1988 visit by K.C. Pant, during Rajiv Gandhi’s tenure as the Prime Minister.

The Indian Defence Ministry declared that the visit would further strengthen the traditionally strong and friendly bilateral relations in mutually beneficial areas, including a strong maritime and defence partnership.

The visit takes place in the wake of Sri Lanka and India signing seven MoUs, including one on defence, in April 2025. Communist Party General Secretary Dr. G. Weerasinghe told The Island that the government should set the record straight regarding the rapidly developing military relations with the US and India. The acquisition of Colombo Dockyard Ltd., by Indian Defence Ministry-run Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited, soon after the finalisation of MoUs, underscored New Delhi’s strategy, Dr. Weerasinghe said. Responding to another query, Dr. Weerasinghe said that the government should take this opportunity to discuss the Tamil Nadu fishing fleet poaching on Sri Lankan waters.

Pant visited during the Indian Army operations against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in the Northern and Eastern Provinces here, while Pranab Mukherjee visited Colombo, in August 2005, to pay last respects to assassinated Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar.

Indian and Sri Lanka governments said that the visit was meant to strengthen cooperation between the two neighbouring countries in the fields of defence, economic engagement, maritime affairs and regional security.

An Indian warship arrived at the Colombo harbour ahead of the Defence Minister’s visit, reminiscent of old gunboat diplomacy. INS Udayagiri’s visit coincided with the Defence Minister’s visit. The Defence Minister’s delegation included senior officials from Ministry of External Affairs.

During the visit, the Indian Defence Minister is scheduled to hold high-level discussions with President Anura Kumara Dissanayake who also holds the Defence portfolio, Prime Minister Dr. Harini Amarasuriya and Defence Secretary Sampath Thuyacontha. He is also expected to meet members of the Indian community, residing in Colombo.

Dr. Weerasinghe said that the NPP government conveniently extended the moratorium on foreign research vessels imposed during Ranil Wickremesinghe’s tenure in 2024. The CP official said that the media alleged that that decision was taken at the behest of the US and India but nearly two years after the last presidential election the ban remains.