A study asking children what they would do about unhealthy food marketing if they were Prime Minister saw many respond with calls for a ban.
It's a position Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said did not surprise her "at all".
"The fact that there's an awareness building of children about healthy and unhealthy food can only be a good thing," she said.
The University of Otago study asked children aged between 11 and 13 around the Wellington region: If you could change anything about unhealthy food marketing, what would you change?
"Junk food should not be marketed because then children could get, like, diabetes and stuff like that," one child said.
"Maybe make rules about advertising, so they just tell you the facts," said another.
Professor Louise Signal said children reported buying "unhealthy food and snacks such as chocolate, confectionery, fizzy drinks and chips, the foods that they were most likely to see advertisements for, despite knowing that such foods were unhealthy.
"There needs to be government leadership to ban junk food marketing to protect our children and promote their wellbeing," she said.
"We know junk food marketing works; children are calling for action to ban it. Let's do it."
When asked about the results, Ms Ardern said that "children think a lot about the world outside of themselves".
"The question asked if they were Prime Minister for a day, what would they do about advertising of unhealthy food. So of course [the children] gave quite a specific response, and one that does not surprise me at all.
"We of course all want our kids to make healthy choices."
The University of Otago researchers say it is a concern given the high rate of child obesity in New Zealand. (Source: Other)
In October, it was found children in New Zealand are exposed to about 27 unhealthy food advertisements each day.
The study is to be reported in the New Zealand Medical Journal. Thirty-three children were interviewed.
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