Jamie Oliver’s company: Online ‘vlogging' stars must clamp down on junk food ads that appear with their videos

Pressure is rising after an investigation showed adverts for sugary products alongside hugely popular vloggers like Zoella

Healthy-eating campaigners and teachers called on the Government to shore-up regulations around online advertising last week, after The Independent revealed adverts for sugary products such as Coca Cola and Haribo were being directed at teenage fans along (PA)

Online ‘vlogging’ stars should take care over the adverts that appear with their videos, Jamie Oliver’s company has urged, in the wake of controversy over unhealthy foods advertised to children alongside videos by YouTube celebrity Zoella.

Chef and healthy food campaigner Oliver has his own YouTube channel, FoodTube. His company has established an agreement with YouTube to ensure that certain brands cannot advertise alongside the channel’s videos.

Healthy-eating campaigners and teachers called on the Government to shore-up regulations around online advertising last week, after The Independent revealed adverts for sugary products such as Coca Cola and Haribo were being directed at teenage fans alongside videos by hugely popular vloggers Zoella and Alfie Deyes.

Advertising Standard Authority regulations state that adverts for “high in fat, salt or sugar products can’t appear around programmes that are commissioned or are likely to be of particular appeal to children up to 16 years of age”.

However, the regulations do not currently apply to vloggers.

Responding to inquiries over adverts for McDonalds and Coca Cola that appeared alongside a Jamie Oliver guest appearance on Alfie Deyes’ YouTube channel, a spokesperson for Jamie Oliver’s Food Tube said it had “a firm agreement” with the website to prevent such adverts appearing on the chef’s own channel, adding that Jamie Oliver’s company would “encourage others to put similar agreements in place wherever possible”.

The spokesperson said: “Jamie Oliver’s Food Tube takes a strong stance on online video advertising and we have a firm agreement in place with You Tube which prevents certain brands from placing ads around Jamie Oliver and Food Tube video content.

Unfortunately, advertising around third party content and on some other channels is currently outside our control however we would always encourage others to put similar agreements in place wherever possible.”

It is not known whether the vloggers are aware of the products advertised before their posts and there was no response from their management companies when contacted by The Independent.

The adverts are not chosen by the vloggers, and in most cases are generated automatically. However, some companies, such as Jamie Oliver’s exercise controls certain adverts.

Representatives for Zoella could not be reached yestrerday and did not respond to a request for a comment for the previous article.