If children mostly ate the foods they saw on television, their diets would be overwhelmed with sugary, high-calorie and fatty foods. Food marketing is just one factor -- in addition to eating too much and moving too little -- that is causing American children to grow fatter. One in every three children is overweight or obese. Public policy makers are considering several ways to decrease the impact of children-targeted food marketing.
Food Marketing Numbers
Nearly $1.6 billion is spent annually on food advertising directed to children in the United States, reports the FTC. On television alone, young children view close to 8,000 food advertisements each year. In 2009, most of the food advertising targeted to children encouraged them to eat foods with low nutritional value; healthy food advertising is nearly nonexistent. Because children are developing the eating patterns they will take into adulthood, it's important to send the right media messages.
Impact of Food Advertising on Childhood Obesity
No research has demonstrated that food marketing to children is causing the growth in childhood obesity rates. However, numerous studies show it influences children's weight in many ways. For example, a study published in the March 2010 journal "Pediatrics" says that children who watched television less, got adequate sleep and ate dinner with their families had about a 40 percent lower prevalence of obesity. Children have trouble distinguishing television programming from commercials, and young children don't understand the motives behind advertising. Food marketing encourages parents, too, for example, to use fast food as a reward or as an alternative to cooking after work. Food marketers target children especially because of their spending power, how much they influence their parents to spend and to cultivate them into future adult buyers.
Food Marketing Media
Children watch on average seven hours of television each day, so most of them are targeted with food marketing through television. However, kids are also being targeted through other screens, including their computers, phones, gaming equipment, portable music devices, as well as at their schools, in cross-marketing with toy manufacturers and merchandising from popular movie characters. When kids get too much screen time, they are also being sedentary and getting less exercise. Limit your child's screen time to no more than two hours per day.
Food Marketing and Healthy Eating
Food marketing can be harnessed to encourage healthy eating. The White House Task Force, for example, reported on a study that said preschool-age children prefer the taste of some foods if they think the food came from McDonald's. When a congressional task force failed to agree on how to limit food marketing to children, the Better Business Bureau created a program called the Children's Food and Beverage Initiative. The initiative is an opportunity for food makers to regulate themselves. The program's goal is to produce fewer advertisements for unhealthy foods and increase the image of healthy foods. Members also agree not to advertise in elementary schools and to promote healthy lifestyles in their marketing. Volunteer members of the initiative include: fast food giants McDonald's and Burger King; cereal makers General Mills, Post and Kellogg; soda makers Pepsi and Coca-Cola; and candy makers Cadbury, Nestle, Mars and Hershey. The 17 members of the initiative represent 80 percent of television food advertising.
References
- "The New York Times"; Risks for Youths Who Eat What They Watch; Jane Brody; 2010
- Federal Trade Commission: Marketing Food to Children and Adolescents (PDF)
- White House Task Force on Childhood Obesity: Solving the Problem of Childhood Obesity Within a Generation (PDF)
- Institute of Medicine: Food Marketing to Children and Youth
- Children Now: The Impact of Industry Self-Regulation on the Nutritional Quality of Foods Advertised on Television to Children (PDF)
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