Last May I wrote a post about children’s junk food advertising, the title of which says it all: “Self Regulation of Kids’ Food Advertising: A Doomed Effort.”
In it, I described how a voluntary industry program to rein in children’s food and beverage marketing has done little to limit kids’ exposure to ads for foods of questionable nutritional value. This photo montage shows some of the products which meet the food industry’s so-called “meaningful, science-based” nutrition criteria:
But if we had any doubt about why the food and beverage industries spend almost $2 billion a year just to reach our kids, a new meta-analysis of existing studies confirms one thing: food advertising is incredibly effective.
Looking at 45 past studies with over 3,000 participants, collectively, researchers at the Yale University found that mere exposure to food advertising increases eating and weight gain across a wide spectrum of individuals, including children. Interestingly, the researchers further found that “visual food cues (e.g. pictures and videos) were associated with a similar effect size to real food exposure and a stronger effect size than olfactory cues.” In other words, seeing an ad for delicious food can create the same degree of craving as actually being exposed to the food and is even more compelling than being enticed by food’s aroma.
Speaking to NPR, lead Yale researcher Hedy Kober said, ”We found very, very strong relationships between reactivity and cues and weight and eating. Why do we still allow food advertising when children can sit in front of TV cartoons, and in between they get exposed to burgers, fries, chocolate — things we know are nutritionally not the best? [Those ads] lead them to ask [for] and want to eat those foods, and that’s something we need to think about really seriously.”
I agree wholeheartedly with Kober’s sentiments, and would further point out that since young children can’t even understand the persuasive intent of marketing, there are serious ethical concerns about targeting them with ads. Moreover, a 2012 study found that parents are as concerned about kids’ junk food marketing as they are about alcohol and tobacco use in the media.
But, unfortunately, the food and beverage industries have shown us repeatedly that they’re able to handily quash any governmental efforts to rein in their marketing to kids; I hold out little hope that we’ll see meaningful legislation curbing children’s food and beverage advertising any time soon.
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Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2016 Bettina Elias Siegel
Dorota | HappyForks.com says
Hi, food advertisements targeted on children is a big problem. I’ve heard about it and observed it. I don’t really think that prohibiting that kind of ads is a good way. Maybe better is education? Addressed to parents and children, even to those in kindergarten. Ads hace so big power that we can use it be creating campaigns e.g. about fruits of vegetables. What do you think?
Bettina Elias Siegel says
Hi Dorota and sorry for the delay in responding. Even though some of my colleagues disagree with me, on the grounds that we shouldn’t advertise to kids at all, I’m supportive of ads that promote fruit & veg consumption. I think you’ll be interested in this article, in which I engage in a debate with Casey Hinds over just this issue. And thanks for commenting here.
Dorota | HappyForks.com says
Thanks for this article. I really like it.
kristen @thekaleproject says
As someone who used to work in advertising and on Post Cereals kids’ account (Pebbles, Honeycomb) and Kraft snacks*, I know first hand the amount of time, energy and money spent to find out the best way to talk to mom for a product that can’t be advertised to kids. Focus groups, psychology and archetype insights, etc. There might be a different message and there will always be a smart media buy (put it on American Idol or something similar where mom and kid are watching together) and a Vitamin D, etc. callout on the packaging but moms are still buying it and kids are still eating it.
*Disclaimer: This was my first job out of college so the priority was to learn the business and how to be an ad account manager – I had no personal passion for kids cereal and felt guilty the longer I did this!
Bettina Elias Siegel says
Kristen: I didn’t realize you had a background in Big Food marketing. So do I! I was one of the lawyers at Unilever who approved those very label claims. I didn’t have kids at the time, but now I look back on that work and feel guilty as well!
Kate says
We don’t have TV (we just stream shows from Netflix/Amazon), so we don’t get bombarded by all the commercials for sugary cereals, fruit roll ups, ect… I also have a nutrition background and understand the importance of “real food” vs the processed sweetened snacks/foods. I work VERY hard to give my family sound nutrition morning, noon and night. I’ve taught my child all the reasons why we eat different veggies, fruit, and what benefits we get from the dinners at home.
HOWEVER, the marketing of the processed foods are so strong that somehow, my child comes home from school asking for Froot Loops because a friend was eating them and they are good. He even knows the bird’s name is Sam. When we are in the grocery store, every day he asks if he can get the bright colored boxes of cereal/fruit roll ups/”insert other processed snack here” especially if it has his favorite cartoon character on it. His classmates become advertisements for these fun food items. I want to be the fun mom too (not just saying NO to everything) but his exposure at school from friends’ breakfasts and lunches makes this an uphill battle every day. He is in PK. What’s it going to be like in elementary school? Commercials are not the only way these food items are being marketed. The bright boxes with cartoons on them is enough to sway my kiddo in begging for it in the store.
Also, my husband was at the grocery store one day with my son and was talked into buying Froot Loops. He saw the marketing on the box “made with whole grains” and other nutritional claims. When the box made it home, I explained to him why it wasn’t healthy. Sugar is the first ingredient. While whole grains are listed, there are additional refined grains, artificial colors, and flavors. I felt defeated. But on top of that, once it was in the house… I couldn’t say no even to myself. I found myself eating the cereal, until I decided to trash it.
In Summary… Sugar tastes good. The box looked fun. My husband fell for the claims on the box. My son was persistent because his friend gets them. I gained 2 lbs once they made it home… 🙂
Looking back at this scenario: We don’t watch commercials. I’m educated. My husband has a degree too (not in nutrition, but he’s smart). We “know better”. Yet, the box made it home, and even I ate some. (ok, I ate a lot. I like sugar.) Honestly I think there’s no way to remove the temptation other than to remove the product from the market- and we all know that’s not going to happen. So now what?
Disclaimer: While I am well educated in nutrition I understand one box of froot loops will not cause my entire family’s health to crumble into a pile of brightly colored cereal rounds, its one example of the uphill battle parents fight. Or don’t fight… and don’t know its a battle at all. I also realize this comment is more of a vent for me than contributing a substantial thought regarding the article… Articles about childhood marketing just make me frustrated because there’s no way fruits and vegetables can get the type of financial marketing support, and they just are not as glamorous as SpongeBob on Gogurts, Tucan Sam, and Captain Crunch.
Bettina Elias Siegel says
Kate: I’m sorry for the delay in responding to this comment and while you call it a “vent” and not contributing to the discussion, I totally disagree. I relate completely and imagine that many other parents reading your comment will as well. And while I wish I could say the problem isn’t going to get worse when your child gets to elementary school, that wasn’t my experience. I also share your pessimism about any marketing competition between highly processed foods and fresh produce. While I’m on record as supporting jazzy ads for fruits and vegetables, I’m under no illusions that the playing field will ever be close to level. All of that said, though, I think you can only keep doing what you’re doing: cook family meals, teach your children about nutrition, and establish for them a healthy nutritional baseline. They will definitely stray from that path as they grow older (I don’t even want to tell you what it’s like to have teenagers in that regard) but I remain hopeful, and I think you should, too, that the nutritional lessons learned at home will have a lasting effect down the road, when they’re old enough to be 100% responsible for their own eating and, later, feeding their own families. Thanks for this comment, and would love to hear what others have to say as well.
bw1 says
“I want to be the fun mom too (not just saying NO to everything)”
There are other ways to be the fun Mom. The other kids on our block, whose parents were dutifully supporting their aspirations to become manipulable consumer-bots, all came over to our house to hang out because we HAD the fun mom. We didn’t have the latest noisy, shiny crap, but my mom taught us how to climb trees, and fix our bikes, and let all the neighborhood kids camp out in our yard overnight. The other kids abandoned their expensive toys and colorful junk food to come to our house and build a snow fort or a tire swing and eat homemade cookies with milk because that was where all the cool adventures were. Telling kids no is not an all or nothing proposition – use your judgment – that’s why they HAVE parents. It will balance out. Be a parent, not a peer. Don’t let the inmates run the asylum.
“Honestly I think there’s no way to remove the temptation other than to remove the product from the market”
FORWARD SOVIET!!! You’re essentially saying here that you can’t regulate your own eating. If you really feel that way, how do you get from there to believing you should drive, vote, or engage in any number of cognitive activities far more complex than just eating right. My cat is a well regulated self-feeder, after all. This is not intended as a personal insult, but rather to highlight the implications of your quoted statement, which I don’t think you would have made if you considered them.
“because there’s no way fruits and vegetables can get the type of financial marketing support”
I’m Chiquita banana and I’m here to say….In the land of the Jolly (ho ho ho) Green Giant… Grapes – for snacks….Sun Maid raisins; one man’s fruit is another man’s candy….Ask any mermaid, you happen to see, what’s the best tuna….Got Milk?….The incredible, edible egg….I could go on ad nauseum.
mommm!!! says
I shut the tv off a long time ago. And I am familiar with the onslaught of garbage food products and how that made me feel when my kid was younger. I compromised by allowing a few things to come home, but were only allowed to be consumed on weekends and in moderation.
Vigilance is the way to go. But im a home cook so maybe its different. I taught my kid that cereal is cereal. Candy disguised as cereal was candy. And we don’t eat candy for breakfast. Sweets in my house are usually something I made.
Bettina Elias Siegel says
Sounds like you’re doing a great job, Mommmm!
bw1 says
I recall a story on 60 Minutes years ago about “Big Cereal.” A coalition of parents had formed to pressure Congress to regulate the price of breakfast cereal. Apparently (I wouldn’t know since I never buy it) Kellogg’s and Post cereals are really, really expensive.
At one point in the program, Mike Wallace went into a grocery store, and showed the array of Kellogg’s and Post cereal boxes with their bold graphics, all at eye level. He then said that there was a way to save money “just look down” and knelt down to show the no-name clones of the brand name cereals sold in plastic bags, for about half the
price. The show cut to him in a conference room interviewing the leaders of the coalition, and pointing out that identical products were available on the lower shelf for half as much, and asked, why not just buy those? The response was “our kids won’t eat them.”
For crying out loud, who is in charge in these households, and do you honestly think that cereal commercials are the only lies you’ll have to train your children to scrutinize in the world? Grow a spine and tell you children NO. The problem here is not the food industry, or television, it’s parents who are terrified that their children will become axe murderers if they ever tell them no. The baby boomers seem to have collectively declared that “my kid is never going to know the adversity I did growing up” without ever pausing to consider what role that adversity may have had in forming their own character. The result? College campuse full of ostensibly adult students who cannot deal with the presence of a speaker on campus with whom they disagree without a “safe space” room filled with bean bag chairs, stuffed animals, and coloring books.
I can still recite all the jingles from all the junk food/supersweet cereal commercials. We asked for them, and were told no, period. Mom and Dad make the decisions, and you kids live with them, when you grow up, move out, and pay your own bills you can buy whatever you can afford (note: not whatever you want.) When that day came, my tastes had developed to the point where I found them disgusting.
mommm!!! says
I’m always a little baffled by parents who don’t like saying “no” to their kids to the point of trying to change the system rather than just saying “no”. Yeah, it sucks. Welcome to being a parent. If you think being a parent is all rainbows and unicorns then it’s no wonder people have such a hard time being a disciplinarian. Because avoiding it makes such wonderful adults later lol!
bw1 says
“parents who don’t like saying “no” to their kids to the point of trying to change the system rather than just saying “no”. ”
That’s sort of the dominant theme of this blog.