Now here’s a Twist: Senator Bernie Sanders and HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Agree Television Ads for Junk Food Should Be Banned

While they’ve been at loggerheads since HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s confirmation hearings early last year, Secretary Kennedy and Senator Bernie Sanders (I - VT) had a rare moment of comity during the April 22 Senate Health Committee hearing.

Sanders pitched Kennedy a softball, asking him if he agrees with the president’s nominee for Surgeon General, Dr. Casey Means, who is opposed to junk food advertisements on TV. Kennedy affirmed his long-standing opposition to such ads.

Given past explosive confrontations between Sanders and Kennedy, the Vermont Senator’s response to Kennedy’s answer surprised some.

“What we are seeing now is these Big Food industry companies spending huge amounts of money telling kids to eat crap,” said Sanders, sounding a lot like Kennedy. “And I think it would make a lot of sense if we banned those ads from TV. I’m hearing you say that you agree with me on that?”

This is the same man who, in a New York Times Opinion piece published last August, called for Kennedy to resign for “endangering the health of the American people now and into the future.”

At Wednesday’s hearing, Kennedy calmly answered Sanders, “The only hesitation I had was we tried to do a smoking ban on TV, and the tobacco companies voluntarily came to the table, which was a good thing. I think the same arguments apply for junk foods; they’re probably even worse for Americans than smoking.”

Sanders reiterated his agreement with Kennedy.

During the 2024 election cycle, Kennedy made his position on ads for ultra processed food clear. “We are the only nation in the world that allows this kind of poison to be marketed directly to our children on their television screens 24 hours a day,” Kennedy said. “Our children are being systematically targeted by predatory marketing for ultra-processed foods that are designed in laboratories to be addictive. These companies use cartoons and bright colors to lure children who don’t have the cognitive ability to know they are being lied to. We must implement a ‘watershed’ ban on these commercials, just as other civilized nations have done, to protect our children’s brains and bodies from the mass poisoning that has become the American norm.”

Following Mike Tyson’s public service announcement promoting healthy diets during the Super Bowl, Kennedy similarly said, “The saturation of these [junk food] advertisements during our most-watched cultural events is a form of spiritual warfare on the American public. It creates an environment where ‘choice’ is a lie because the consumer is being bombarded by chemical triggers before they even walk into a grocery store.”

Although portrayed otherwise, Secretary Kennedy’s positions on a wide range of issues have remained remarkably consistent. Polls now show widespread support for many of his views among Republicans, Democrats, and even independents like Bernie Sanders.