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United States Senate

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OFFERED
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January 20th 2015
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Senate Bill No. 8182
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8Principal Author: Keilah Stypulkoski
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A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
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Childhood Obesity Protection Act of 2015
13PURPOSE SECTION
14 FOR the purpose of limiting the exposure of unhealthy food ads to children
15and youth in order to lower the amount of obese children.
16PREAMBLE
17WHEREAS, the rate of obese children in America has nearly tripled in the last 25 years;
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19WHEREAS, becoming obese during youth places that individual at risk of becoming
20obese or having other health problems such as diabetes and cancers later in life; and,
21WHEREAS, on average, children ages 8 to 18 consume more media than any other
22activity besides sleeping; and,
23WHEREAS, Most children under the age of 6 cannot tell the difference between the
24program they are watching and ads; and,
25WHEREAS, Most children under the age of 8 can not distinguish the persuasive
26intentions of ads; and,
27WHEREAS, food ads on television make up nearly 50% of all ads and 98% of these ads
28are related to foods with a high amount of calorie, sugars, or salts; and,
29WHEREAS, 20% of children are currently obese or overweight; and,
30WHEREAS, the amount of food ads children view has a direct relationship with what
31they ask for and what they consume; and,
32THEREFORE BE IT ENACTED BY THE CONGRESS of THE UNITED STATES OF
33AMERICA: that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will be required to
34oversee the amount of ads for unhealthy food or promoting the consumption of unhealthy

35food on childrens television channels including all educational television channels and
36all channels made for children with a rating of TV-PG or lower.
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38Section 1 - ENACTMENT CLAUSE
39To lower the amount of obese children in America, and the exposure of unhealthy food
40products to youth, the FCC will be responsible for filtering the amount of ads for
41unhealthy food and the promotion of consuming unhealthy food on all childrens
42programs with one or more show with a rating of TV-PG or lower or any educational
43programs during the hours of 6:00 am to 7:00 pm. The kind of unhealthy foods that
44will be affected by this law would include; sugar sweetened beverages and energy drinks,
45fast food restaurants, candy, sugar added cereals, and any kind of frozen or microwavable
46food products. All of the eligible channels will be required to withhold the use of
47advertising any of the qualified food products until 7:00 pm. The channels must end the
48ads for the qualifying food products by 6:00 am. None of the qualifying food products
49may air ads any other time than the ones specified in the document.
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51Any other ads that are permitted on childrens programs and educational programs may
52air any time of the day or night and do not have to follow the guidelines listed above
53unless it is a food or beverage product falling under the categorys specified.
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55DEFENITIONS
56Childrens Programs any television channel (profit or nonprofit) with an average
57rating of TV-PG or lower and or any channel targeted to children and or preteens
58Educational Programs Any channel (profit or nonprofit) that contains specifically
59made educational content in 50% or more of their shows or programs

60Unhealthy Food (products) any sugar sweetened beverage, any beverage with
61caffeine or added energy, any form of candy, deserts, or pastries, any fast food or
62chain restaurant, any sugar added cereals, and any frozen, chilled, or microwavable
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64FCC Federal Communications Commission
65Section 2 - ENFORCEMENT
66If any of the eligible channels does not obey by these specifications and advertises any of
67the specified food and beverage products any other time than 7:00 pm to 6:00 am, both
68the company of the food or beverage product and the channel that the advertisement airs
69on will be fined equal amounts of it cost to air and make the ad plus an additional
70$50,000.
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72The proses of this law and the enforcement of it will be monitored and maintained by the
73FCC. The FCC will be required to oversee the list of ads that are going to be aired during
74the hours of 6:00 am to 7:00pm once a day to ensure that the ads meet the guidelines. If
75they do jot it will be reported to the television channel where they will be notified about
76the problem and told to change it. If the television channel fails to listen to the FCCs
77warning, they will be fined.
78Section 3 - CLOSING SECTION
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80This bill will take effect September 1st, 2015.
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82SECTION 4. All laws in conflict with this legislation are hereby declared null and void.
83Introduced by.
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86Keilah Stypulkoski