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How Many Junk Food Ads Do Your Children Watch on TV?

There's little doubt in anyone's mind children who spend copious amounts of time in front of the TV are exposed to a flood of junk food ads and, in so doing, are at a far greater risk of being harmed by the epidemic of childhood obesity.

Nevertheless, food and advertising executives continue to dispute the problem as they did in a Wednesday report from the Kaiser Family Foundation (reviewing some 8,900 ads aired on 13 networks during a five-month period in 2005), calling it "a very good snapshot," and that the marketing landscape for kids had changed since that year.

That is, if you call a voluntary agreement among 11 large advertisers to kids -- among them Kraft and McDonald's -- to make 50 percent of their ads aimed at kids devoted to healthier lifestyles a true compromise.

By the numbers:

  • Kids in the 8-12 age group viewed the most foods ads every day (21).
  • Half of the commercials aired on shows intended for kids under age 12 were devoted to food ads.
  • Nearly 20 percent offer some incentive, like a game or toy.
  • No ads promoted vegetables or fruits.

Just a reminder, there's plenty of steps you can take that will make a huge difference in battling the childhood obesity epidemic in your own home, and limiting the time your child spends in front of a TV is crucial.

Kaiser Family Foundation March 28, 2007 Free Full Text Report

New York Times March 29, 2007 Registration Required

The Ledger March 29, 2007






 
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Comment on This Article Community Comments (9)
 
 
Posted On Mar 30, 2007
My children watch almost no TV ads, let me explain why.  First of all, we have TiVo which allows us full control over what they watch.  We fast forward through all of the commercials.  The programs that my children prefer are mainly on Noggin or PBS Kids which have little or no commercials.  By the way, is this just a coincidence or are my children healthier than the average American child?  My children have never taken antibiotics (ages 5 & 6) and they have never had ear infections.  I control their diet by purchasing only foods that I know are healthy for them.  If they happen to ask for an unhealthy food then I explain to them why I won't purchase those products.  Parents who do not train their children at a young age to choose healthy foods are doing them a disservice.  This generation of parents seem to have a hard time saying "No" to their children which is why obesity is rampant in the 0-5 age group.

 
LM36
Apprentice User Apprentice User, Joined On 12/2006
LM36  
Replied

Bridestein
Savvy User Savvy User Joined On 12/2006
Bridestein  
 
Posted On Mar 30, 2007
Good for you! My parents also denied us junk food, but never explained why so we ate it every chance we got. We got $1.00 allowance and spent it on 10 candy bars - every week. My very first grocery purchase when I moved out was a pound of bacon, a package of oreos and a bag of caramels. (yes, I threw up!) But my worst symptoms did not appear until I spent two years on a high fiber / low fat vegetarian diet. It was only then that I finally made the connection between the food I ate and my health.
In addition to birthing classes, we should teach parents-to-be about the importance of nutrition.


nanciesweb
Savvy User Savvy User Joined On 6/2006
nanciesweb  
 
Posted On Mar 30, 2007
Bridestein - I pretty much did the same you did, except we didn't eat junk because we were poor.  We grew most of our own food, or bought it cheap from a local farmer.  As soon as I started working I would buy junk food (mostly Boston creme donuts, TV dinners, store made muffins, and bagels).  It was only when after my midwife suggested to keep track of what I was eating while nursing my daughter, I noticed a correlation and started to become more aware of what I was eating.

It really didn't click until a few months later, when I figured that just one soda wouldn't hurt (after abstaining from caffeine).  A couple hours of finishing half a can of diet soda, I notice my ADHD symptoms were quite severe.  I waited a couple of weeks and had another with nearly identical results.

Ever since I've been slowly eliminating things that I suspect is causing problems.  It's been a slow process, though.  I visit family and friends often and they don't share the same philosophy.  It's even more difficult when you are pregnant and REALLY hungry and there's nothing to eat other than boxed danish.

 
 
 
Posted On Mar 30, 2007
This is what Richard Dawkinds coined as a meme in the 70's: "A meme, he said, propagates itself as a unit of cultural evolution and diffusionanalogous in many ways to the behavior of the gene."

As we evolve, one should be developing what I call one's "I." This is a stronger foundation and a sense of not only who you are, what you want, etc, but YOUR OWN (not parents, society's or your family's religion) values and belief systems. The stronger your "I", the less likely memes ,or what I call weeds, are able to get into your head and grow.

If parents would take the time to focus on their true intenstions of life and children were educated more on making decisions for themselves, not being told what is right or wrong according to the family and society, I feel the less chance these ad have of getting in a childs head.

TV, among other things is a great way emotional to be "aloof" to oneself. When you have a stong sense of self, you will only choose things that will facilitate, not inhibit your journey. If parents took the time to be present with their family, I feel children would not want to watch TV to be "aloof" towards the family AND the chances of them making facilitative decisions towards life would be more likely.

Do you see spiritual leaders, buddists, people livinig what they preach eating these things and taking all the Rx meds that are out there?? No, because the closer you are to self internally, the more you realize what is facilitative and what is inhibitive.

 
Josh Rubin
Moderator User Moderator User, Joined On 6/2006
Josh Rubin  
Replied

proatc
Apprentice User Apprentice User Joined On 12/2006
proatc  
 
Posted On Mar 30, 2007
Josh I totally agree, but..
I have treated many spiritual leaders, priests and Fathers.  Many medical doctors treat them for common physical conditions and disease, they are not immune.  I also se a lot of overweight spiritual leaders, pedophile and psychotic spiritual leaders are all over the news.  They are definitely not living what they preach.  Just as the smoking Cardiologist, the criminal attorney and the recent headline Brain surgeon with brain cancer.  Don't let the label fool you.

There are all types of people and parents, sadly the majority are uneducated compared to those that read this blog.  I want to see more posts from parents and how they incorporate TV, or not, into their lives and the impact it has, which will give more insight into an individualized approach to each child we raise.  Do you have a TV?  How many hours does your children watch per day?  Why? (I totally understand your 'why' Josh due to your post).

My kids are allowed to watch TV, at my discretion, and wifes.  It is not randomly on for their entertainment whenever they choose.  The DVR comes in very handy to speed through commercials mainly because I cannot stand them.  I also flip frequently to another news/sports/program segment until the commercials are over.  When I do sit through them I occasionally make fun of them and critique them to pass on the point to my children how ridiculous they are. 
It is what it is and it is a part of my culture, so I choose to have TV.  It is not the end all, I am not a bad or unhealthy person by any stretch of the imagination and my kids will hopefully grow up educated and with a balance in their lives and choose for themselves (just as you mentioned) if it is important enough to continue on.


Josh Rubin
Moderator User Moderator User Joined On 6/2006
Josh Rubin  
 
Posted On Mar 31, 2007
Proatc,
I empathize with what you are saying, but just because someone says they are spiritual, they are a preist, etc, does not mean they are! My opinion is this, spirituality is just like health. There are many peices to the puzzle. I feel that most spiritual leader are only living one piece to the puzzle, which is their spirituality. But, loving self takes more than just reading a book, preaching the word of god and wearing a title. Spirituality is truely loving self.

Remember, if you say you love self and your actions do not align with that, do you truely love self? You can't give what you don't have. So to me, spirituality is loving self throug food, thoughts, following nutrition and lifestyle principles, communcating with nonviolence, and so forth. How many so called spiritual leaders do that? Not many.

You see most say they are spiritual and they preach it, but they eat like crap, jude others, lack compassion, etc. Most spiritual leaders are at  such a high level of conciousness, which is humbleness, that they will not even have to wear a title or tell others they are spiritual. Those are the ture spiritual people.

 
 
 
Posted On Mar 30, 2007
Parents should not allow children to watch TV...KILL YOUR TV, CUT THE CORD...read books, go to the library, exercise, play sports, walk, take music lesson, anything wholesome (which the vast majority or television watching is NOT)...

Improve your knowledge and that of your children; there is virtually little on television programming these days, short of perhaps Sesame Street or Mr. Rogers reruns, that is of any benefit to any child's real development, growth and long term health.

 
Russ Bianchi
Savvy User Savvy User, Joined On 9/2006
Russ Bianchi  
 
 
 
Posted On Mar 30, 2007
While I agree that we need to get the Television out of the home.  I have not been able to home school my daughter and sometimes her assignments including watching the television.  Needless to say we watch it with her and discuss what she is watching and how it applies to our lives.  But food or drug commercials are the 2 most common advertisments that I see on the television. 

Mary

 
mmc88121
Moderator User Moderator User, Joined On 11/2006
mmc88121  
 
 
 
Posted On Jun 12, 2007
I know this is an old post, but I found a relevant article pertaining to it:

80% of Nickelodeon's food ads are for junk food.

Not surprising, but very telling.

 
davidBZ
Novice User Novice User, Joined On 3/2007
davidBZ  
 
 
 
 
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