There can be no more important time to have good nutrition in a person’s life then when they are young, still growing and developing. The food habits developed early on last a lifetime and influence food choices well into adulthood. Children will primarily follow what their parents do, after all the average toddler can’t run to the store to pick out what they want on their own, but the food companies spend billions directing marketing and advertising at young children and adolescents to influence their purchasing choices. They know that influencing a child by building brand familiarity and loyalty will pay off with years of dedicated buying even into adulthood. Though a toddler can’t purchase food on their own, marketing companies know how children can influence the parent’s decisions and refer to this as “nag factor” and “pestering power”. Requests from children start around 2 years of age and are most commonly for breakfast cereal followed by snacks then toys. The food industry knows all this and that is why spending on food advertising is second only to the automotive industry.
The primary way food companies advertise is through TV ads. 75% of food companies budgets and 95% of fast food companies budgets are for TV advertising. The average 2-4 year old watches 2 hours per day of TV increasing to 3 ½ hours for the pre and grade school years. That means the average US child will see between 20,000 and 40,000 commercials per year over 50% of which will be for food! The next area company’s focus on to direct advertising is on the internet which you can expect to continue to grow as more and more kids use the internet at a younger age and because the advertising on the internet is much less regulated than on television. Even the advertising on television is very loosely regulated.
In the early 1970s the first concerns about advertising to children were brought up by the children’s advocacy group, Action for Children’s Television (ACT), and led the governmental agencies, the FCC and FTC, to impose regulations that limited the amount of time during a children’s program that could be advertising and also required a “bumper” before the commercials. This is where “We’ll be back right after these messages” comes from. They also barred “host selling” meaning a character in the show airing cannot be in a commercial during that show. In 1978 the FTC did its own comprehensive review of advertising to children and found that it was deceptive, unfair and proposed to severely limit or ban any advertising during children’s programming. This drew expected opposition from food, toy and advertising industries claiming first amendment rights to tell people about their products. Congress bowed to industry pressure by not approving the FTC operating budget and removing their authority to restrict television advertising. In its place to monitor television and internet advertising is the Children’s Advertising Revue Unit (CARU). It can only make recommendations and has no legal authority. Oh and its advisors are executives from Burger King, Frito Lays, McDonalds, General Mills, Nabisco and Hershey. I’m sure these companies are just fine at self regulating.
A central problem with advertising directly to toddlers and children is they cannot discern that the message is designed to be persuasive and is just trying to sell something. Children up to 7-8 years of age just view advertising as fun unbiased information. Preteens aged 8-10 have the ability to recognize that the message from the advertisers may not be true though they still follow it. It isn’t until 11-12 and up that they possess the ability to realize that it is just a sales pitch and even then they can be persuaded with emotional messages easier than adults.
The advertising of cigarettes was drawn under scrutiny when it was found they were using methods to target teens. The Marlboro Man and Joe Camel were very successful at developing brand familiarity and encouraging underage smoking. A study showed that 30% of 3 year olds and 80% of 6 year olds could make the association between Joe Camel and a pack of cigarettes. Studies showing that this advertising worked to increase underage smoking lead to much of the ad campaigns being removed or regulated. Since most of the food which is advertised to children is high in fat and added sugar and goes against any sensible recommendations for a healthy diet shouldn’t it too be restricted? Several European countries have already done this. In Sweden no advertising at all is allowed on television or radio that targets children under the age of 12. The Swedish government views advertising to children as morally and ethically unacceptable, since children do not have the ability to properly analyze an advertiser’s message. In Belgium it is forbidden to broadcast commercials during children’s programming and 5 minutes before and after them. Australia does not allow any ads during television shows for preschoolers.
The take home message is don’t let the TV dictate what your children eat. You have the opportunity to set them up for a lifetime of healthy eating habits. Turn the TV off and lead by example. As a parent you should be buying and eating healthy foods to set the trends your kids will follow for the rest of their lives.
International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity 2004,1:3
By Dr Scott Szela