A report found kids are exposed to about 18,000 ads a year on average and that slightly more than a third, or 34 percent of those ads, are for candy and snack foods. Another 28 percent were for cereal and 10 percent were for fast food. A smaller portion of the ads were for dairy products and fruit juices.As adults who care about healthy diets, we may be “immune” to the triple cheese burgers or strawberry flavored soda shown again and again on the television. However, our kids, especially those between nine to fifteen years old, are usually so overwhelmed by the junk food advertising that would only want to eat and drink what they’ve seen on TV. Nowadays, when parents are getting busier in work, kids are often given lunch money which they are very likely to spend on “super-sized” fast food, sodas and snacks.
The latest numbers from the federal government's Centers for Disease Control and Prevention underscore the growing problem of childhood obesity in the United States show that nearly 14 percent of 2- to 5-year-olds were obese in 2004, the latest figures available, up from 5 percent in 1980. The figure was 17.4 percent for teens, up from 5 percent.
There has been effort put in fighting against the junk-food-ad on TV. The Center for Science in the Public Interest and the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood have pressed the federal government for stricter regulations and cheered on individuals who filed lawsuits against particular companies for their high-fat food. In UK, Ofcom's new regulations came into force in which companies would no longer be able to advertise food and drink with a high sugar, salt or fat content during shows aimed at four to nine- year-olds.
Why are there so many junk-food-ads cramming our TV screens while very few
ads about healthy nutritious food can be seen? Suppose that only “junk” food which is considered unhealthy by nature needs advertising because otherwise nobody will buy it; then can we conclusion that if we ban all the junk-food-ads (granting that we are able to define what is “junk” food), people will not be “influenced” by those ads or “attracted” to those products, so their shopping baskets will be automatically full of un-advertised (unknown) healthy and nutritious stuffs from now on.Of course the hypothesis above is problematic and everybody knows it is not happening in the real life. One reason why an undeniablely great proportion of the population in this country are fond of those so-called junk food and inclined to feed themselves and their kids with those high fat/sugar food and drinks, is that they are already “brainwashed” by those famous brands and images and their stomach as well as minds are already used to them. Furthermore, children are even less rational than adults when they choose what to eat and drink; if they are hooked by McDonald’s Big Mac, they are not going to have a salad instead just because they do not see the golden “M” on TV anymore. So I would say that we need to ban (at least restrict)the junk-food-ads on television, but at the same time we need to have more healthy and nutritious food/drink advertised and exposed to the public in order to compensate the “damage” that junk-food has made. We will have to encourage the healthy food brands to come to media and promote healthier eating habits and life styles in the society. And hopefully this will put pressure on the food industry, especially fast food industry, to improve the quality of their products rather than just adjust marketing strategies.
LONDON (AdAge.com) -- The recent U.K. ban on TV junk-food ads aimed at children younger than 16 will be extended to magazines, the internet, newspapers, billboards and cinema.
Junk-Food-Ad, time to stop!
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3 comments:
I want to see that, too, not only in commercials but also in shows. But how can I control or censor content? Hmm...
This is a very interesting topic and carries, as nomedia said, to show content. It might be an interesting study to look at a popular show and analyze how many times the characters are seen 1. eating 2.eating healthy and 3. eating junk food/snacks.
I want to know if the junk food that appears in the shows are product placement? Is it paid? Or just because the directors want to make the shows look more "realistic" so let the characters eating burgers and drink soda.
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