Study finds TV feeds children plenty of junk
WASHINGTON — Children are being fed a steady diet of junk-food ads by the TV channels they watch, according to a new study.
Youngsters 2 to 7 years old see a dozen food ads a day, researchers said Wednesday, and nearly half of the commercials aimed at children 17 and younger are selling candy, snacks, soda or fast food. The review of more than 8,800 ads by Indiana University and the Kaiser Family Foundation couldn't find a single commercial for fresh fruit or vegetables.
The Kaiser authors didn't call for policy changes. Nonetheless, the results are likely to add to the growing pressure on advertisers and networks to cut back on the promotion of junk food before regulators do it for them.
"If there's no progress, that's certainly what faces the industry at the end of the day," Adonis Hoffman, senior vice president of the American Assn. of Advertising Agencies, said after the report's release.
The study follows a 2005 report by the federally funded Institute of Medicine that tied food commercials to childhood obesity. In December, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommended a ban on junk-food ads during programs for young children.
Ten of the largest food and beverage advertisers, including Coca-Cola Inc., PepsiCo. and Kellogg Co., agreed in November to adopt new rules on advertising to children. The companies are to announce by August details of how they will implement the rules.
The voluntary program, however, allows a lot of leeway. For example, participants are expected to promote healthy diet choices or lifestyles in half their ads. But they can slip these messages into commercials for candy bars or chips, said C. Lee Peeler, chief executive of the National Advertising Review Council and a leader of the program.
The new study was intended to satisfy policymakers who wanted to know "how much food advertising children see on TV, for what types of food, and what types of appeals are used to market those foods to them," said Kaiser's Vicky Rideout, a co-author of the study.
"Childhood obesity isn't just the latest hot topic," Rideout said. "It's a very serious problem that's having a devastating effect on the lives of millions of children and families in this country, and that could impact our country's healthcare system for many years to come."
Among food ads aimed at children and teens, the most common are for cereal, at 29%. Fast-food restaurants and candy each make up 10%. Gum accounts for 9%, dine-in restaurants 7% and fruit roll-ups 6%.
