Who remembers the "cigarette cards"?

Thanks to this morning's Herald, here is the 21st Century version -

A snack food promotion accused of encouraging children to eat the equivalent of more than a kilogram of fat has been stung by the Advertising Standards Authority.

The authority upheld a complaint by the Ministry of Health that Bluebird Foods' "Rugby Superstars" promotion encouraged excessive consumption of a treat food, and used famous rugby players to gain a high level of appeal to children.

The complaint said that to collect all 50 cards, people would have to buy at least 50, but probably more than 80, chip packets - with a combined fat content of more than 1kg.
...
In its reply to the ministry's complaint, Bluebird said the promotion was a "short-term competitive marketing strategy designed to encourage a person to select one brand of snackfood over another".

Yeah, well to me that response indicates that the intent was to encourage consumption of those 50 or 80 bags of chips in a short space of time. The great pity is that it probably would succeed.

"Chippies" are not a "snack food". They are a carefully crafted concoction of starches, fats and salt designed to encourage increasing consumption at maximum profit and minimum food value.