Fraser's junk food comments foolhardy:
Parents Centre calls for a boycott of junk food advertised on TVNZ
Parents Centre calls on parents throughout New Zealand to follow Television New Zealand Director, Ian Fraser's advice
and boycott all companies which advertise on TV1 and TV2.
His offensive comments at the symposium on fast food advertising demand a response.
"If Mr Fraser is gullible enough to believe and promote the idea that advertising fast food to children has no effect on
their diet of junk food, and that responsibility for children eating more junk is solely with parents, then we should
apply this thinking to our purchasing power and ensure we don't buy products that appear on either TV1 or TV2." said
Parents Centre President Sharron Cole.
"His comments make no sense," said Ms Cole. "If advertising to children had no effect on the purchasing of junk food, or
other products, then you couldn't give away the advertising slots. Clearly, he is so desperate to avoid any legislation
that would affect his ability to generate advertising revenue that he is casting about for someone else to blame and
parents are an obvious target.
"Parents should respond to his attack in a way that he understands -through his advertising revenue. If parents boycott
all Television New Zealand advertisers until he publicly apologises and retracts his comments, then perhaps he will
think twice about bringing such lame duck arguments to a serious debate.