Non-compliance with advertising, promotion, and sponsorship regulations established by law no. 27,642/2021: survey conducted during january–february 2024

Abstract

Introduction: excessive consumption of ultra-processed products, stimulated through various advertising, promotion, and sponsorship (APS) actions, contributes to the rise of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in Argentina. The Healthy Eating Promotion Law (Law No. 27,642) is a comprehensive regulation that, among other aspects, governs the APS of products bearing warning labels.
Objective: to identify non-compliance with the provisions established by Law No. 27,642 and the strategies related to APS of food and beverage products in different points of sale across Argentina during January and February 2024.
Materials and method: a cross-sectional, observational, descriptive field study was conducted in hypermarkets, neighborhood supermarkets, convenience stores, and gas station markets across nine capital cities from five regions of Argentina. Categories of non-compliance were analyzed using descriptive statistics, and data were processed with SPSS software.
Results: the sample included 108 points of sale. The most frequent type of non-compliance involved product placement on shelves in ways that obscured the visibility of warning labels. The group comprising soft drinks, flavored waters, and juices accounted for 30% of these cases. The second most frequent category was the presence of signage lacking visible warning labels or not complying with the regulation. Within this group, sweet cookies, jams and marmalades, confectionery, and cereal bars showed the highest frequency (29.3%).
Conclusions: the identified non-compliances reveal that several barriers persist in the full implementation of APS regulations established by the Healthy Eating Promotion Law and its complementary standards. These findings highlight the need to strengthen monitoring and enforcement mechanisms to ensure compliance with current regulations.