Commercials and Childhood Obesity
Envision this: kids around the world are sitting in front of the TV watching food commercials to the tune of more than five per hour. Most of those commercials are for sugary foods, fast food, and other high-calorie items, each of which can add to childhood obesity.
Childhood obesity and excessive weight is a national problem. The National Center for Health Statistics reports that 17 percent of children are overweight. Further, overweight children quite often become overweight adults. They have an greater risk for diabetes, heart disease, stroke, arthritis, and certain cancers, among other ailments and diseases. As reported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), part of the problem may be that American society has become “obesogenic,”. This is defined by situations and environments that elevate increased consumption of food, unhealthful foods, and a sedentary lifestyle.
According to researchers at the University of California-Davis, that studied the kinds of food commercials seen by kids who watch English- and Spanish-language TV programs. During high viewing times for children (Saturday mornings and weekday afternoons). Recordings were made of programs on twelve networks, which included children’s cable channels, networks that appeal to older youths, mainstream English-language channels, and the two highest rated Spanish language channels.
A total of 5,724 commercials were taped. Of these, 1,162 were food-related. Children were shown an average of 5.2 food related commercials per hour. Of these commercials, more than 70 percent were for unhealthful foods (foods with elevated sugar and/or elevated fat content), which contribute to childhood obesity. Thirty-four percent of the ads were for fast-food restaurants and convenience items.
The highest share of food-related advertisements appeared on children’s networks, where the advertisements were mostly for sugary cereals and sweets, high-fat foods, fast-food restaurant fare, and snacks. Compared with programming for a generalized audience, children’s TV exposed its viewers to 76 percent more food advertisements each hour than the other networks. Children that watch TV on a children’s network during Saturday morning from 7 to 10 AM are shown approximately one food commercial every eight minutes.
Older kids continue to be shown unhealthful food advertisements. The researchers viewed programming such as the music videos offered by BET and MTV. They reported that 80 percent of the MTV food ads were for fast food restaurants, sugary beverages, and sweets.
The publishers of the research, which was published in the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior, indicated that “Study after study has documented the adverse health effects of food advertising targeting children and adolescents.” They continued to state that “School- and family-based programs that have attempted to reduce children’s media use have shown promise.” But because kids are shown food ads by other media, especially the Internet, the authors propose the creation of “nutrition-focused media literary interventions” to help young people understand the economic motives of food advertisers and the techniques the industry practices to increase market for their products. These efforts, along with others, may help stem the growing epidemic of childhood obesity.
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