Studies show both food and alcohol commercials are influencing our children.
According to the New York times, a study was published recently in the Journal of Pediatrics, which followed almost 4,000 students from seventh through 10th grades, assessing their exposure to alcohol advertising on television and asking about their alcohol use.
The report showed that advertising does increase the odds of underage drinking, however, the new results took the concerns a step further. “This study linked exposure to alcohol advertising to an increase in alcohol use among adolescents and then that in turn is associated with higher level of problems with drinking alcohol, getting drunk, missing school, and getting into fights.
Adolescents who see alcohol advertising are being sold something that we would prefer them not to consume in any amount. Food advertising raises different issues, since children will certainly eat and will certainly have — and express — food preferences.
Additionally, the news reported that Jennifer Harris, the director of marketing initiatives at the Yale Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity, reported that television advertising remains very important in the ways that foods are marketed to children. According to the center’s data, every day on average in the United States, children and teenagers see 12 to 14 food ads on television.
But parents may not realize that their children are also subjected to messages from advertisers coming in from other directions.
“They’re advertising on other Web sites, social media — Facebook is huge — Twitter, mobile marketing, mobile apps,” Dr. Harris said. Many children are playing “advergames” online, for example, intended to promote products. Parents may be completely unaware, she said.
And what are they marketing to children? According to Dr. Harris, the top four products are fast foods sugared cereals, sugary drinks and candy.
Thomas Robinson, a professor of pediatrics at Stanford University and Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital, has studied childhood obesity and its links to screen time. In experiments with preschoolers, he told me, “even a 30-second exposure to a novel product, one that you’ve never seen before, changes their preferences for brand.”
In another study, researchers looked at the effects of branding by giving 3- to 5-year-olds two portions of identical foods, one set out on a McDonald’s wrapper. The children were asked to point to which foods tasted better and, Dr. Robinson said, “overwhelmingly, for hamburgers, French fries, baby carrots, milk or juice in a cup, kids would say the one on the McDonald’s wrapper tastes better.”
Up to the age of 7 or 8, children are thought to be unable to understand the nature of advertising — developmentally, they can’t identify the underlying persuasive intent.
Older children may have a better understanding of commercials, but they are vulnerable in other ways.
“Coke is the most popular brand on Facebook,” Dr. Harris said. “It has 58 million fans.” When adolescents “like” Coke, they receive posts every day, which they may then “share” with friends.
“That whole tapping into the peer relationship that kids of that age have is, we think, very deceptive,” Dr. Harris said. “They don’t necessarily recognize that it’s advertising and also very manipulative.”
What can parents do? With young children, the most important strategy is probably to reduce screen time, and the number of messages, and to keep track of what they’re seeing when they do watch TV.
And when a child asks for something, parents should not simply refuse. “Respond, ‘Well, why do you want that? Where did you hear about it?’ ” said Dr. Robinson. And if the answer is that the child saw it on TV or on the Internet, “Say, ‘Well, they want you to want it, they’re trying to sell you that.’ And then have a discussion.”
And what about my aspirations of nurturing young cynics? Though teaching critical viewing skills does enhance children’s awareness, Dr. Robinson told me that relying too much on notions of media literacy can actually play into the hands of the advertisers.
“That takes the responsibility away from them and puts it on the kids to be educated consumers,” he said.
Know what your children are watching. Watch with them. Talk about what you see — the images on billboards or on touch screens, the Super Bowl commercials, the Web sites they visit.
In an information-rich world, we need to know the messages children are receiving, and help them decode and understand what the world is trying to sell them.
Did you know that the average American child sees more than 40,000 advertisements each year. Half of those ads are for food, and 97% of food ads are items high in sugar, salt and fat.
- Television ads have a direct influence on what children choose to eat and drink.
- The majority of foods and drinks marketed to kids are for products high in calories and low in nutrients, clearly out of balance with promoting a healthy diet.
- Marketing approaches have become sophisticated, moving far beyond television advertising to include the Internet and strategic product placement.
- Marketers are targeting younger and younger kids, all the way down to toddlers in an attempt to establish brand-name preference as early as possible.
- Efforts to change current marketing practices, diet trends and the prevalence of overweight and obesity will take action on many levels. Raising parents’ awareness that their kids are targets of junk food marketing – and that parents have the power and the responsibility to make good food decisions for their children – is a first step.
Did You Know?
- Kids view more than 40,000 ads per year on TV alone.
- 44% of the ads kids see on TV are for candy, snacks and fast food.
- Advertisers count on your kids to nag, beg and pester you into purchasing their products.
- Kids younger than 8 years old don’t understand the idea of selling a product and accept advertising claims at face value.
- Kids younger than 6 years old have difficulty distinguishing advertisements from regular TV shows and movies.
- Advertising to kids is a $385 billion/year industry. The alcohol, tobacco and prescription drug industries only spend a total of $20.9 billion/year.
- Several European countries forbid or limit advertising aimed at kids.