High-calorie, highly-caffeinated drinks such as coffee milk, café latte, and coffee ice cream are often sought out by middle school and high school students who want to stay awake to focus on their studies. (image: Pixabay)
SEOUL, August 2 (Korea Bizwire) – While the Korean Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS) wants to limit advertising for highly caffeinated drinks including coffee milk, the Korea Communications Commission (KCC) and the Korean Broadcasters Association (KBA) are strongly opposed to the government’s decision.
Specifically, the MFDS has proposed banning advertisements for high-calorie and high-caffeine processed drinks between 5 and 7 p.m., when many TV broadcasts target children and teenagers.
High-calorie, highly-caffeinated drinks such as coffee milk, café latte, and coffee ice cream are often sought out by middle school and high school students who want to stay awake to focus on their studies.
The KCC claimed that students are mostly involved in extracurricular activities or after school classes during those times, and so banning ads would not be effective and would only reduce broadcasting industry revenue from advertising.
“The students the MFDS is trying to protect are already exposed to these products on their smartphones, or see ads on public transportation. Therefore, both the KCC and KBA consider this restriction to be effective,” said a KCC official.
The opposition to the restriction is primarily based on the fact that the prohibited products will not be allowed to be advertised virtually or indirectly 24 hours a day, which the KCC and the KBA deem as excessive.
On the other hand, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety has chosen to uphold its decision, stating that highly caffeinated drinks do not have positive health benefits for young children and teens.
Large doses of caffeine may lead to dizziness, an increased heart rate, sleep disorders, and anxiety, particularly for young children who are more susceptible to caffeine’s side effects.
According to a study conducted by the MFDS, a popular coffee milk beverage contains 277.5 mg/kg of caffeine per product, which is more than energy drinks (239 mg/kg) and chocolate products (231.8 mg/kg).
The MFDS recommends a daily dose of 2.5 mg/kg of body weight or less for children.
By Nonnie Kim (nkim@koreabizwire.com)
