II 

113TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 2342 

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to protect children’s health 

by denying any deduction for advertising and marketing directed at 

children to promote the consumption of food of poor nutritional quality. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MAY 15, 2014 

Mr. BLUMENTHAL (for himself and Mr. HARKIN) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance 

A BILL 

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to protect 

children’s health by denying any deduction for advertising and marketing directed at children to promote 

the consumption of food of poor nutritional quality. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Stop Subsidizing 

5 Childhood Obesity Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 


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1 (1) Childhood obesity has more than doubled in 

2 children and tripled in adolescents in the past 30 

3 years. Currently, more than one-third of children 

4 and adolescents are overweight or obese. 

5 (2) A report by the Robert Wood Johnson 

6 Foundation found that if the population of the 

7 United States continues on its current trajectory, 

8 adult obesity rates could exceed 60 percent in a 

9 number of States by 2030. 

10 (3) Health-related behaviors, such as eating 

11 habits and physical activity patterns, develop early 

12 in life and often extend into adulthood. The diets of 

13 American children and adolescents depart substan14 tially from recommended patterns that put their 

15 health at risk. Overall, American children and youth 

16 are not achieving basic nutritional goals. They are 

17 consuming excess calories and added sugars and 

18 have higher than recommended intakes of sodium, 

19 total fat, and saturated fats. 

20 (4) Budgets for food marketing to children have 

21 spiked into the billions of dollars. According to a 

22 2012 report from the Federal Trade Commission, 

23 the total amount spent on food marketing to chil24 dren is about $2 billion a year. 


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1 (5) Companies market food to children through 

2 television, radio, Internet, magazines, product place3 ment in movies and video games, schools, product 

4 packages, toys, clothing and other merchandise, and 

5 almost anywhere a logo or product image can be 

6 shown. 

7 (6) According to a comprehensive review by the 

8 National Academies’ Institute of Medicine, studies 

9 demonstrate that television food advertising affects 

10 children’s food choices, food purchase requests, 

11 diets, and health. 

12 (7) A 2005 report from the Institute of Medi13 cine confirmed that ‘‘aggressive marketing of high14 calorie foods to children and adolescents has been 

15 identified as one of the major contributors to child16 hood obesity’’. 

17 (8) Nearly three-quarters of the foods adver18 tised on television shows intended for children are 

19 for sweets and convenience or fast foods. 

20 (9) A study published in the Journal of Law 

21 and Economics and funded by the National Insti22 tutes of Health found that the elimination of the tax 

23 deduction that allows companies to deduct costs as24 sociated with advertising food of poor nutritional 


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1 quality to children could reduce the rates of child2 hood obesity by 5 to 7 percent. 

3 SEC. 3. DENIAL OF DEDUCTION FOR ADVERTISING AND 

4 MARKETING DIRECTED AT CHILDREN TO 

5 PROMOTE THE CONSUMPTION OF FOOD OF 

6 POOR NUTRITIONAL QUALITY. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Part IX of subchapter B of chap8 ter 1 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended 

9 by adding at the end the following new section: 

10 ‘‘SEC. 280I. DENIAL OF DEDUCTION FOR ADVERTISING AND 

11 MARKETING DIRECTED AT CHILDREN TO 

12 PROMOTE THE CONSUMPTION OF FOOD OF 

13 POOR NUTRITIONAL QUALITY. 

14 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—No deduction shall be allowed 

15 under this chapter with respect to— 

16 ‘‘(1) any advertisement or marketing— 

17 ‘‘(A) primarily directed at children for pur18 poses of promoting the consumption by children 

19 of any food of poor nutritional quality, or 

20 ‘‘(B) of a brand primarily associated with 

21 food of poor nutritional quality that is primarily 

22 directed at children, and 

23 ‘‘(2) any of the following which are incurred or 

24 provided primarily for purposes described in para25 graph (1): 


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1 ‘‘(A) Travel expenses (including meals and 

2 lodging). 

3 ‘‘(B) Goods or services of a type generally 

4 considered to constitute entertainment, amuse5 ment, or recreation or the use of a facility in 

6 connection with providing such goods and serv7 ices. 

8 ‘‘(C) Gifts. 

9 ‘‘(D) Other promotion expenses. 

10 ‘‘(b) IOM STUDY.— 

11 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 60 days 

12 after the date of the enactment of this section, the 

13 Secretary shall enter into a contract with the Insti14 tute of Medicine under which the Institute of Medi15 cine shall develop procedures for the evaluation and 

16 identification of— 

17 ‘‘(A) food of poor nutritional quality, and 

18 ‘‘(B) brands that are primarily associated 

19 with food of poor nutritional quality. 

20 ‘‘(2) IOM REPORT.—Not later than 12 months 

21 after the date of the enactment of this section, the 

22 Institute of Medicine shall submit to the Secretary 

23 a report that establishes the proposed procedures de24 scribed in paragraph (1). 

25 ‘‘(c) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 


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1 ‘‘(1) BRAND.—The term ‘brand’ means a cor2 porate or product name, a business image, or a 

3 mark, regardless of whether it may legally qualify as 

4 a trademark, used by a seller or manufacturer to 

5 identify goods or services and to distinguish them 

6 from the goods of a competitor. 

7 ‘‘(2) CHILD.—The term ‘child’ means an indi8 vidual who is under the age of 14. 

9 ‘‘(3) FOOD.—The term ‘food’ shall include bev10 erages, candy, and chewing gum. 

11 ‘‘(4) MARKETING.—The term ‘marketing’ 

12 means any product or brand advertising or pro13 motional techniques directed at children, including— 

14 ‘‘(A) advertising (including product place15 ment) on television and radio, in print media, 

16 in social media, and on the Internet (including 

17 third-party and company-sponsored websites), 

18 ‘‘(B) the use of characters or mascots, 

19 themes, activities, incentives, or any other ad20 vertising or promotional techniques contained 

21 on the packaging or labeling of a product, 

22 ‘‘(C) advertising preceding a movie shown 

23 in a movie theater or placed on a video (DVD 

24 or VHS) or within a video game or mobile ap25 plication, 


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1 ‘‘(D) promotional content transmitted to 

2 televisions, personal computers, and other dig3 ital or mobile devices, 

4 ‘‘(E) advertising displays and promotions 

5 at the retail site or events, 

6 ‘‘(F) specialty or premium items distrib7 uted in connection with the sale of a product or 

8 a product loyalty program, 

9 ‘‘(G) character licensing, toy co-branding 

10 and cross-promotions, 

11 ‘‘(H) celebrity and athlete endorsements, 

12 and 

13 ‘‘(I) any advertising or promotional tech14 niques used within a school. 

15 ‘‘(d) REGULATIONS.—Not later than 18 months after 

16 the date of the enactment of this section, the Secretary, 

17 in consultation with the Secretary of Health and Human 

18 Services and the Federal Trade Commission, shall promul19 gate such regulations as may be necessary to carry out 

20 the purposes of this section, including regulations defining 

21 the terms ‘directed at children’, ‘food of poor nutritional 

22 quality’, and ‘brand primarily associated with food of poor 

23 nutritional quality’ for purposes of this section.’’. 


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1 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 

2 for such part IX is amended by adding at the end the 

3 following new item: 

‘‘Sec. 280I. Denial of deduction for advertising and marketing directed at children to promote the consumption of food of poor nutritional 

quality.’’. 

4 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

5 this section shall apply to amounts paid or incurred in tax6 able years beginning 24 months after the date of the en7 actment of this Act. 

8 SEC. 4. ADDITIONAL FUNDING FOR THE FRESH FRUIT AND 

9 VEGETABLE PROGRAM. 

10 In addition to any other amounts made available to 

11 carry out the Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program under 

12 section 19 of the Richard B. Russell National School 

13 Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1769a), the Secretary of the Treas14 ury (or the Secretary’s delegate) shall, on an annual basis, 

15 transfer to such program, from amounts in the general 

16 fund of the Treasury of the United States, an amount de17 termined by the Secretary of the Treasury (or the Sec18 retary’s delegate) to be equal to the increase in revenue 

19 for the preceding 12-month period by reason of the 

20 amendments made by section 3 of this Act. 

Æ 


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