Junk habit

An Australian advertisement likening parents buying "junk" food to injecting children with heroin is taking a beating, and rightly so:

Director of the Public Health Advocacy Institute, Professor Mike Daube, says childhood obesity is a massive problem in Australia, where 25 per cent of kids are now considered obese.

But he says the ad is over the top.

"This ad puts all the emphasis on kids. Then it puts all the blame on parents instead of people writing junk food [ads]. And then just for good measure it shows you how to inject heroin," he said.

"So I'm not a fan of the ad. I admire anybody who has concerns about the obesity problem which is very real, but I don't think this ad is the way to deal with it."

It is a view shared by nutritionist Dr Rosemary Stanton.

"Heroin is dangerous, even in a small dose. And junk food isn't dangerous in a small dose," she said.

"But I do think that we need to make parents aware that it's not safe to give their kids so much junk food [to eat]. And they currently aren't aware of that."

An occasional meal of junk food isn't going to hurt anyone.