According to the BBC this morning, the Egg Information Service has been banned from showing a re-run of a 1950's advert featuring the slogan 'Go to work on an egg", on the basis that it "does not promote a balanced diet."
This recent regulation of food advertising has been brought about by fears of rising obesity levels and the subsequent strain on the healths service. The watershed of the campaign came last year, when stricter measures were introduced to control TV advertising for junk food targeting children - a very commendable move.
While it is important that we promote healthier diets, this latest decision seems to be taking things a little too far - especially since eggs are healthy, natural products which are not branded by one or two companies.
In this light, it is worth considering a comment made by the author Fay Weldon, who was involved in the project:
"When you think of what can be run and what is being run, like low-cost airlines and cars - cars kill, eggs aren't actually likely to do so"
She's got a point hasn't she? If you can't have an advert for eggs on health grounds, why shouldn't car adverts carry a health warning and include the CO2 emmission levels? It's certainly not the first time this idea has been put foward.
Now we've broken some taboos on advertising regulation, perhaps it is time to consider the negative health, social or environmental effects of some of the other un-contested propoganda which is pumped into our daily lives....
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