Critics say restrictions on food marketing would block ads for popular, healthy foods

{mosads}“The … recommendation that parents stop feeding their children oatmeal, cereal and most dairy products simply doesn’t make sense,” said Dan Jaffe, executive vice president for government relations at the Association of National Advertisers.

According to the coalition, even bottled water couldn’t be advertised under the proposed restrictions because it does not provide any nutritional value. Canned vegetables have too much salt to meet the proposed marketing criteria, as does salad dressing, the group said.

The Federal Trade Commission, one of the four agencies that devised the draft recommendations, has pushed back hard against such criticism in the past. The FTC said last month that its proposal wouldn’t ban any marketing and sharply rejected suggestions that the voluntary program would infringe on free speech.