TV Food Advertising: Targeted to Kids

It has also been shown that young children do not make sny distinction between advertising and actual programing. Infomercials for children soon?? Could save the TV industry a lot of money! I'm in the wrong business. :-)

Dr. J, a lot of children's programming is an infomercial already. Show Sponge Bob cartoon + advertise all sorts of Sponge Bob merchandise in the commercials = infomercial.

We've started talking to our 5 year old son about commercials. Just because it's on TV doesn't mean it's good and it doesn't mean you need it. He'll say, "Oh, I want that" without even realizing what it is he's asking for.

It's disturbing to think about how much power marketing has over the young mind. When we're at the store and he recognizes something from a commercial, he'll often ask for it. We'll look at the box together and I'll explain why it's not so good for him.

We've been talking about nutrition with him in basic terms for a while now, so he understands that tons of sugar isn't good and that he needs protein and calcium to be big and strong. So when I say this fruit snack is really just candy with tons of sugar, he understands. It doesn't mean he doesn't want it, but he understands why he won't be getting it.

I also thank my lucky stars that he loves fruits and veggies. This is that rare child who will turn down pie for an apple.

keryn: That's good, just make sure he knows he needs animal fat too. I cracked open my first nutrition textbook at 6 years of age.

That's a tough one, Ryan. We're trying to explain why he needs fat at all...he associates food fat with being fat. We do a lot to explain to him WHY he needs to eat what's on his plate and what it does to help him grow.

And while I'm a vegetarian, he's not and neither is his dad. So he does get meat, although not a ton. We're big on cheese and eggs.

keryn: The brain will not develop without saturated fat and cholesterol. That should be a good start.

keryn said:
We've started talking to our 5 year old son about commercials.[...]

My pet annoyance are the candy shelves at supermarket checkouts. Place at just the right height for a 2 year old. What normal kid wouldn't be tempted by the vast array of brightly colored goodies all within hands reach?

I don't care what people say, if my mum said no when we were younger, that was it. It didn't matter how many times we saw the adverts, her word was final; it's the parents ultimately who buy it.

Jan said:
Dr. J, a lot of children's programming is an infomercial already[...]

My little brother watches a show called 'Yu-Gi-Oh'.
It's amazingly brain-bleeding.
And get this, just about everything IN the show can be bought. Figurines of the characters (and monsters too I think, maybe even buildings), trading/battle cards, trading/battle card holders, miscellaneous paraphernalia.

It is a 30 minute commercial (although I think the average length of a show on television is something like 20:45 when you take out the commercials between the main commercial).

Linds said:
My little brother watches a show called 'Yu-Gi-Oh'. It's amazingly brain-bleeding.[...]

Imagine what it would take to commit suicide with a carpenter's hammer. This is not so far from the pain an adult would receive watching Yu-Gi-Oh.

I remember being a kid and seeing all these commercials for cereal. We were never allowed to get any cereal that was name brand because it was so expensive (it's one of the biggest ripoffs at the grocery store, IMHO). Instead, we had to get the generic stuff that Dad insisted was THE SAME as the name brand stuff. We insisted that generic frosted flakes were NOT the same as the ones with Tony the Tiger, but hey, we weren't the ones buying the groceries.

I have to agree that parents are ultimately the owners of this. It doesn't really matter how much your kid wants that sugar coated death bomb if you don't buy it for them.

And product placement in grocery stores gets to me too...it's painful.

Brain Development and Fats

http://www.fi.edu/brain/fats.htm

When I have kids, I reckon I'll be recording everything they watch on a HDD recorder so I can fast-forward through all ads! They make me angry :\

Best of luck with that one Amy! That will work with the first child while they are very little (and like Jim's child they seem to prefer videos - the same ones OVER and OVER again at that age!) However unless you keep your child in a bubble you can't keep them from interacting with the world, friends, babysitters etc. And younger children, by about age 3, start to pick up on what the older ones think is cool because they want to emulate them. So, better to give them good information about nutrition, watch tv with them so you can explain and help them discriminate which claims are not true and why. As parents we also need to remember the word "no" IS our friend, although it may not seem that way when we are faced with a child having a major meltdown in the cereal aisle because the lucky charms aren't going to be making the trip home with us!!!!

Speaking of cereal, I get tired of all the cereals that masquerade as healthy choices because they are organic - "gorilla crunch" is still empty sugar filled crap marketed to children despite the fact that the sugar is from organically grown sugar canes!!!

I don't send my kids to the supermarket to buy food for themselves so I couldn't really care less what ads they see.

jb, that's so true - and funny. Ultimately, we get to make these decisions because we have the money and the power. It makes me sound like I'm about 1000 years old when I say "When you are an adult, and you have your own money, and your own home, I guess you can fill your fridge with whatever crap you want and I won't have anything to say about it. Until then ... the answer is NO". But I do say it. often.

I think some people are afraid their kids won't love them if they say no. So sad.

Without sounding draconian, I am for banning all child oriented advertising. Commercials are a form of manipulating anyway, and those children are so impressionable. And marketing thrives on that. Causes too much stress in the families when the parents have that constant battle/tedious explaining why not.

I really admire those parents who begin to teach their children the nutritional VALUE of what they are eating at such an early age. This is usually something that (unfortunately) an aware adult seeks out on their own.

Those children taught early are learning life long lessons. I cannot imagine an informed child ever becoming obese in their life through wrong choices.

Patricia, you probably know that Spain is the biggest exception in Europe and will probably see the biggest change as a result of the proposed EU guidelines regarding product placement in TV programmes. I wrote about this way back in November 2006 if you are interested.

http://obesityheadlines.blogspot.com/2006/11/shaken-or-stirred-do-i-look-like-i.html

soozeequeue said:
think some people are afraid their kids won't love them if they say no. So sad.

You are so right. I think this is the problem with most issues kids face these days, not only nutrition. Once parents start thinking saying no will traumatize their kids, they stopped parenting. I remember the post about the British obese boy authorities are threatening to take away, and the mother said she'd give him 3x what a normal child eats a day "otherwise he'll just whine all night". Um, you are supposed to let him whine and keep your foot down.

Thanks, Shefaly for the reminder. Although we can also get the UK TV, we opt for Spanish and German through the satellite (my husband is English). The advert differences are so obvious, and I do not often watch television...am very selective about it. But the Spanish children's programs are yes, bombarded with 'must haves' and 'tell your parents to buy you XXX NOW'. Wow.

Thanks also for the link...I enjoyed your informative article.

I guess you're never too young to start building bad habits.

Brian

Marketing to children should be illegal. But without advertisers, who would pay for children's programming? We can show our children only videos, or even ban the tube entirely. But eventually they will watch the adverts in the homes of others.

Perhaps it's time to pay more for television programming and relieve the advertisers of their dirty business.

Patricia: you are welcome. Thanks for reading.

Kailash: It is difficult to declare something universally illegal, for many cultural and social nuances determine legality (For example, see how age of consent has changed through the ages.)

However the IOTF has a consultation on till tomorrow (DEADLINE 30 MARCH) and if you feel that you can contribute, please add your voice to the discussion of the Sydney Principles.

http://www.iotf.org/sydneyprinciples/

Thanks.

Jan said:
Dr. J, a lot of children's programming is an infomercial already. Show Sponge Bob cartoon + advertise all sorts of Sponge Bob merchandise in the commercials = infomercial.[...]

Well, I just saw spongebob today, so I can truthfully say that there are no spongebob-related merchandise in the commercials (at least not today).

But it's true, a lot of these cartoon franchises are being created, with TV shows being supported by stuffed animals, innovative (well.) cards like yu-gi-oh, pokemon, etc, board games, video games, cartoon character gummy snacks, happy meal toys at local mickey ds' ... and yes, the kid who likes watching the cartoon character is very likely going to want to buy the cards, hold the stuffed animals, play the video games, eat the gummy shreks, and eat the food that spongebob has so cheerfully endorsed.

so yes, shows are pretty much commercials, but the point of most of them is to make money, which comes through commercials. and how do commercials help to raise money for the company? by selling junk food to little kids who have a scarily large chance of becoming overweight in the future.

When I was a kid, we watched Popeye cartoons!! That spinach thing sure got us running to the market to buy some..NOT!! :-)

Ha, yeah, Dr. J....my mom used to try EVERYTHING to get us to eat nasty, overcooked canned spinach when we were kids. NOTHING worked because I just do not like canned spinach. Now that I can buy my own food, I buy a lot of fresh spinach and eat that...it tastes a lot better.

I think Jan made a good point about parents feeling like saying "no" will make them horrible people to their kids. Kids try to find their boundaries and if no one sets any for them, they'll get away with whatever they can.

I actually think the boundary thing was what made me get really fat to begin with. My parents had great food-boundaries for me...breakfast had to be something nutritious, lunch had to be something balanced, etc. When I went to college, I had NO boundaries! I could eat poptarts for breakfast and cheeseburgers and ice cream for lunch and no one could tell me no. Well, the consequences for that was gaining 30 pounds in 3 months, so I realized I had to set my own boundaries.

Spectra said:
so I realized I had to set my own boundaries. [...]

We haven't watched TV for 10 years now -- since before our first daughter was born. Here's just another reason to be thankful that we don't!

Hey I'm a fan of Spongebob Squarepants!