Food marketing on TV and in movies can affect a childs dietary habitMany factors influence childrens food choices: where they eat; what their friends and siblings eat; what parents eat and drink and bring into the house; what is served at school; and,of course,what they like. But if you are a parent,would you want your childrens food and beverage choices determined by manufacturers whose primary goal is to make money by getting them hooked on products of questionable nutritional value? Too much sugar on TV.Last month,the Center for Science in the Public Interest,a Washington-based advocacy group,gave a grade of F to 95 of 128 food and entertainment companies for their policies or lack thereof on marketing to children.Despite the industrys self-regulatory system,the vast majority of food and entertainment companies have no protections in place for children, said Margo G. Wootan,the centres nutrition policy director. In the centers analysis of marketing to children,released last November,the highest grade,a B-plus,went to the candy maker Mars,which does not market to children under 12 and avoids other gimmicks that attract them.If companies were marketing bananas and broccoli,we wouldnt be concerned, Dr Wootan said. But instead,most marketing is for sugary cereals,fast food,snack foods and candy. And this junk-food marketing is a major contributor to childhood obesity. Furthermore,the analysis showed,although 64 per cent of food companies that advertise to children in America at least have some sort of marketing policy,only 24 per cent of restaurants and 22 per cent of entertainment companies have any policy guiding advertising to children.In a study released in March 2007,the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation noted that children ages 2 to 7 see an average of 12 televised food ads a day,or 4,400 a year,and children 8 to 12 see an average of 21 a day more than 7,600 a year. For teenagers,the numbers are 17 a day,or more than 6,000 a year. Fully half of all ad time on childrens shows is for food,the foundation reported.Most of the food ads that children and teens see on TV are for foods that nutritionists,watchdog groups and government agencies argue should be consumed either in moderation,occasionally or in small portions, the group found. Of the 8,854 food ads reviewed in the study,there were no ads for fruits or vegetables targeted at children or teens. In case you are wondering,several studies have demonstrated that television ads do indeed have an effect and not a good effect on what children eat,and how much. In one study of 548 students at five public schools near Boston,published in 2006 in The Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine,researchers found that for each additional hour of television viewing,the children consumed an additional 167 calories,especially the calorie-dense,low-nutrient foods frequently advertised on television. .and at the moviesNow,a new study suggests,its time to attend to more subtle promotions of questionable foods,beverages and eating establishments that appear in movies popular among children and adolescents. Movies, the authors stated,are a potent source of advertising to children,which has been largely overlooked.The study,published in March in the journal Pediatrics,analysed brand placements for foods,beverages and eateries depicted in the top 20 box-office hits for each year from 1996 to 2005. Of the 138 movies analysed,49 percent were rated PG-13,20.5 percent were PG and 7.5 percent were G.We found that a surprising proportion of movies that were targeted to children and adolescents featured brand appearances, the authors wrote. Although Coca-Cola and Pepsi have long standing commitments not to advertise their products on childrens television,the researchers found that sugar-sweetened beverage products from these companies regularly appeared in movies,especially those rated for children and adolescents. An insidious effectLest you doubt these brand placements influence young eating habits,the appearance of Reeses Pieces in the movie E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial resulted in a sharp increase in sales in the three months after the movies release in 1982.Movie product placement is on a par with subliminal advertising,yet it has been largely ignored by those who study the impact of marketing on children, the authors wrote.The authors expressed particular concern about the influence of brand placements in movies rated PG and PG-13 on older children and teenagers,who are gaining independence with respect to their food choices. They noted that this provides a likely avenue by which brand loyalty and product preference can be built. What can you do? I wouldnt suggest passing up a wonderful movie like E.T. But just as parents and others have objected to sugary drinks sold in schools and,to a lesser effect so far,to foods advertised on childrens television,it may be time to make your feelings known to movie producers about how brand placements are harming the health and increasing the weight of children.NYT
