Report: Food Marketers Promoting Childhood Obesity
Are Snap, Crackle, and Pop evil? Are Frankenberry and Count Chocula as scary as Boo Berry?
According to a report released last week by the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies, the characters are fine, unless they’re promoting bad eating habits to kids. Food and beverage marketing targeted to children ages 12 and under leads them to request and consume high-calorie, low-nutrient products, says the report, “Food Marketing to Children and Youth: Threat or Opportunity?” which offers the most comprehensive review to date of the influence of food marketing on youngsters.
The report doesn’t advocate legislation to regulate advertising to kids—yet. But if voluntary efforts by the food industry fail to successfully shift the emphasis of television advertising during children’s programming away from high-calorie, low-nutrient products to healthier fare, the institute says, Congress should enact legislation to mandate this change on both broadcast and cable television.
Companies spent an estimated $10 billion to market foods, beverages, and meals to U.S. children and youth in 2004, and four of the top 10 items that children ages 8-12 say they can buy without parental permission are foods or beverages, according to the report.
In releasing the report, committee chair J. Michael McGinnis, senior scholar, Institute of Medicine, said there were four things the committee thought worth highlighting:
- There is strong evidence that television advertising of foods and beverages has a direct influence on what children choose to eat.
- The dominant focus of food and beverage marketing to children and youth is for products high in calories and low in nutrients, and this is sharply out of balance with healthful diets.
- Marketing approaches have become multifaceted and sophisticated, moving far beyond TV advertising to include the Internet, advergames, strategic product placement, and other channels.
- Reversing the current trends in children’s diets and in marketing will require strong and active leadership and cooperation from both the public and private sectors. Industry resources and creativity must be harnessed on behalf of healthier diets for children.
McGinnis called it an “all hands on deck” issue, adding that parents play as critical a role in the turnaround as the food, beverage, and restaurant industries do. And marketers have begun changing their ways to help fight childhood obesity, he added:
- In September, Sesame Workshop received a grant from the Dr. Robert C. Atkins Foundation to further study how well Elmo sells broccoli. The foundation will give $73,000 to the nonprofit producer of “Sesame Street” to expand its research project “The Effectiveness of Characters on Children’s Food Choices,” according to a report in ”Promo” (a sister publication of CHIEF MARKETER).
- Last May, fast-food chain McDonald’s jumped onto the healthy lifestyles bandwagon with modified offerings for children and adults. The commitment to children is part of McDonald’s multiyear Balanced Lifestyles platform that saw it introduce apple slices, milk, and juice as Happy Meal options.
- Kraft Foods promised to trim online marketing to kids nationally in September and committed $2 million to health initiatives in California, says ”Promo.”
- ”Brandweek” reported in November that President Bill Clinton has been paired with SpongeBob SquarePants to wean kids off junk food and promote active lifestyles.
