The United States government is pushing for the removal of junk food advertisements on school campuses.
The phase-out is just one part of the Obama administration's larger endeavor to cut obesity in young American children. The FLOTUS, who has been boosting the campaign for months, hopes to establish "a new norm" for school-age kids.
"This new approach to eating and activity is not just a fad," Michelle Obama stated on Tuesday during her speech on the proposal.
The Agriculture Department measure would take advertisements for chips, soda and other kinds of junk food out of schools, the Associated Press reported.
Scoreboards at football and baseball stadiums, vending machines on campus, posters and menu boards would no longer be allowed to feature advertisements for junk food. Foods that aren't up to snuff by federal code standards will be removed from school campaigns - that means Coca-Cola can't post up ads at a school, but Dasani water or Diet Coke, which are also owned by the company, can.
Another set of regulations slated to take place this fall will reportedly monitor foods put in on-campus vending machines and "a la carte" lunch lines, according to the Associated Press. Tighter limits on calories, fat, sugar and salt content, will also go into effect for school foods at that time.
Tuesday's announcement from Capitol Hill was just one of a series of events this week for Michelle Obama's "Let's Move" plan. The FLOTUS is scheduled to attend an event at a recreation center in Miami with comedian Amy Poehler to discuss the ways children can have fun and lose weight by getting active.
Critics of the program have questioned whether the government should be able to tell children what they can and can't eat, the Associated Press reported. But Mrs. Obama insisted that the pressing issue wasn't one that she created, and that children will come around to the new rules eventually.
"That's our job as parents, to hold steady through the whining," she stated.
