Children’s Shows Oversaturated With Food Ads

Study concludes that half of all ads during kid’s shows are for food.  Should advertising be held accountable for the rapid growth of childhood obesity?    

New Study Finds That Food Is the Top Product Seen Advertised by Children – Among All Children, Tweens See the Most Food Ads at More Than 20 a Day

34% of All Food Ads Targeting Children or Teens Are for Candy and Snacks

Half of All Ads Shown During Children’s Shows Are for Food

WASHINGTON, March 28 — As the fight against childhood obesity escalates, the issue of food advertising to children has come under increasing scrutiny. Policymakers in Congress, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), and agencies such as the Institute of Medicine (IOM) have called for changes in the advertising landscape, and U.S. food and media industries are developing their own voluntary initiatives related to advertising food to children. To help inform this debate, the Kaiser Family Foundation today released the largest study ever conducted of TV food advertising to children.

The study, Food for Thought: Television Food Advertising to Children in the United States, combines content analysis of TV ads with detailed data about children’s viewing habits, to provide an estimate of the number and type of TV ads seen by children of various ages. The study found that tweens ages 8-12 see the most food ads on TV, an average of 21 ads a day, or more than 7,600 a year. Teenagers see slightly fewer ads, at 17 a day, for a total of more than 6,000 a year. For a variety of reasons — because they watch less TV overall, and more of their viewing is on networks that have limited or no advertising, such as PBS and Disney — children ages 2-7 see the least number of food ads, at 12 food ads a day, or 4,400 a year. For each age group studied, food was the top product seen advertised. Thirty-two percent of all ads seen by 2-7 year olds were for food, while 25% of ads seen by 8-12 year olds and 22% of ads seen by 13-17 year olds were for food. Of all genres on TV, shows specifically designed for children under 12 have the highest proportion of food advertising (50% of all ad time).

“Children of all ages see thousands of food ads a year, but tweens see more than any other age group,” said Vicky Rideout, vice president and director of the Program for the Study of Entertainment Media and Health at the Kaiser Family Foundation. “Since tweens are at an age where they’re just becoming independent consumers, understanding what type of advertising they are exposed to is especially important.”

Types of Food Advertised. Of all food ads in the study that target children or teens, 34% are for candy and snacks, 28% are for cereal, and 10% are for fast foods. Four percent are for dairy products and 1% for fruit juices. Of the 8,854 ads reviewed in the study, there were none for fruits or vegetables targeting children or teens.

Appeals Employed to Advertise Food. One in five (20%) food ads targeting children or teens include a push to a website, and a similar proportion (19%) include the offer of a premium, such as a game or toy. About one in ten (11%) have a tie-in to a children’s TV or movie character. Physical Activity Portrayed. Fifteen percent of all food ads targeting children or teens include depictions of a physically active lifestyle, such as showing children skateboarding, snowboarding, or playing basketball.

Public Service Advertising. The study also measured children’s exposure to public service messages on fitness or nutrition (whether donated or paid). Children 2-7 and 8-12 see an average of one such message every 2-3 days (164 a year for 2-7 year-olds and 158 a year for 8-12 year-olds). Teens 13-17 see just one such message per week, for an average of 47 per year. “While public service ads on fitness and nutrition may well play an important role in helping to fight childhood obesity, we need to be realistic about our expectations, given how few such messages children see,” Rideout said.

The report was released today at a forum in Washington, D.C. that featured U.S. Senator Sam Brownback, food industry leaders, health officials, and consumer advocates. The report and a webcast of the session (available after 12:30 p.m. ET) can be found at http://www.kff.org/entmedia/entmedia032807pkg.cfm.

Methods

The study is based on a sample of 1,638 hours of television content, including a detailed analysis of 8,854 food ads. Because children’s viewing habits vary substantially by age, the studies’ findings are presented separately for children ages 2-7, 8-12, and 13-17. Nielsen data were used to determine the top television networks for each of the three age groups. Any network in the top 10 for any one of the age groups was included in the study (Black Entertainment Television was also included because previous Kaiser research had showed it to be in the top ten networks among all 13-17 year- olds, and the number-one network for African Americans 8-18). A total of 13 networks were included: ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC, The WB, UPN, PBS, ABC Family, BET, The Cartoon Network, Disney, MTV, and Nickelodeon. A week’s worth of content from 6 a.m. to midnight was recorded and coded for each network, using a composite week sampling method to increase representativeness. The sample was primarily collected from May – September 2005.

The sample of television content was then reviewed by trained coders. All ads and PSAs were coded by subject matter, and all food ads were coded for type of food, target audience, type of appeal, and various other characteristics such as use of a premium or depiction of a physically active lifestyle.

The data from the content analysis was paired with detailed viewing data to yield an estimate of the number and type of advertising actually seen by children. Viewing data is from a sample of 1,090 parents of children ages 2-7 and 3,032 8-18 year-olds, including the amount of time children spend watching, and the proportion of viewing time spent watching specific networks and genres of programming. This allows researchers to take into account the proportion of children’s viewing that is spent watching children’s shows (where the amount of advertising is limited by law, but a larger proportion of ads are for food) or networks such as PBS or Disney, which have distinct advertising policies and virtually no food ads.

The study was designed by Kaiser Family Foundation staff in collaboration with Professor Walter Gantz at Indiana University, and data were collected and analyzed by Professor Gantz and his colleagues Nancy Schwartz and James Angelini. At the Foundation, the project was directed by, and the report co- authored by, Vicky Rideout, vice president and director of the Foundation’s Program for the Study of Entertainment Media and Health.

Policy Background

Institute of Medicine (IOM): In December 2005, the IOM issued a report titled Food Marketing to Children and Youth: Threat or Opportunity. The report included an extensive review of research on the impact of advertising on children’s diets and health, and recommended shifting the emphasis of food advertising to children toward healthier options. The report recommended that if voluntary industry efforts are not successful, Congress should enact legislation mandating such a shift on broadcast and cable television.

Children’s Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative (Initiative): In November 2006, many of the most prominent food companies advertising to children and youth joined the Initiative, pledging, among other things, to devote at least half of all advertising directed to children under 12 to promoting healthier dietary choices, and/or to messages that encourage good nutrition or healthy lifestyles. Member companies are scheduled to announce their specific commitments and timetables for implementation within approximately 6-9 months from the announcement of the Initiative.

Great Britain: In November 2006, British regulators banned advertising for high fat, salt and sugar foods (HFSS) in programming made for children or of particular appeal to children under age 16. In addition, the government’s regulatory agency Ofcom (Office of Communications) voted to prohibit the use of licensed characters, celebrities, promotional offers and health claims in food advertising to children.

American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP): In December 2006 the AAP issued a policy statement recommending, among other things, that Congress “implement a ban on junk-food advertising during programming that is viewed predominantly by young children.”

Federal Trade Commission (FTC): In April 2006 the FTC issued a report titled Perspectives on Marketing, Self-Regulation and Childhood Obesity that recommended a shift toward marketing of healthier foods to children, and an increase in the use of media to promote health and wellness. Per the request of Congress, the FTC is also preparing a report on the marketing practices of the food and beverage industry.

The Kaiser Family Foundation is a non-profit, private operating foundation dedicated to providing information and analysis on health care issues to policymakers, the media, the health care community and the general public. The Foundation is not associated with Kaiser Permanente or Kaiser Industries.

SOURCE Kaiser Family Foundation