New Study: Childhood Obesity and Advertising

On March 28th, 2007, the Henry J. Kaiser Foundation released a study linking TV ads to childhool obesity. The study reviewed 8,854 television ads for age groups 2-7, 8-12, and teens. Out of these thousands of ads, not one was found promoting fruits and vegetables targeting children or teens. Before I begin the discussion, I will just lay out some shocking statistics that this study explains:

Children 8-12 see more than 7600 food ads per year or 21 per day while teens see more than 6,000 food ads per year or 17 per day.

"Of all genres on TV, shows specifically designed for children under 12 have the highest proportion of food advertising (50% of all ad time)."

"Of all food ads in the study, 34% are for candy and snacks, 28% are for cereal, 10% are for fast foods, 4% are for dairy and 1% for fruit juices."

In regards to nutritional food and exercise public service announcements:
"Children 2-7 and 8-12 see an average of one such message every 2-3 days (164 a year for 2-7 year olds and 158 a year for 8-12 year olds)."


Looking at these statistics, we see that children ages 8-12 are viewing 7600 food ads per year (of which around 34% of are for candy and snacks) but only 158 nutritional food or exercise public service announcements a year. Compare this to a study done by the American Obesity Association which finds that "the prevalence of obesity quadrupled over 25 years among boys and girls." The sample group was U.S. Children ages 6-11 and the study conducted was done from 1971 to 2000. These statistics seem to be revealing strong evidence that children are being targeted by food ad companies and it is contributing to childhood obesity. Now I understand that there are other factors to this problem but in our "fast-paced" American lives, having a television helps parents get more done in their lives while the television is a substitute parent. With more children watching television, ad companies understand that at young ages, say 8-12, children are extremely influential. They are just growing into themselves and becoming independent consumers. This age seems to be when children form brand loyalties or buying habits of one brand or another. If Ad Companies can target these children and gain their loyalty, the Ad company may have a buyer for life. Get them while there young.

I find this evidence extremely engaging and I think it is showing us something of a deeper problem. The influence of the television on the youth. I believe that the more negative images that are imprinted on a child's mind at young ages, the more likely those images will mold into that child's personality. Not that a child who sees murder or stealing on television will automatically turn into a murderer or thief but that it brings down the moral rectitude to understand that those things are not ok in a civil society. As children see more and more negative images on the television (rudeness, rape, violence, sexism etc.) with few moral and positive images to counter the negative, I believe young kids see these things as norms. We need to recognize how powerful the television really is over the mindsets of Americans, especially children, and work to counter a growing culture of immoral nihilists.