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FOOD ADVERTISING/
KIDS & YOUTH
source: www.adgp.com.au/client
_images/1743.pdf
www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/
articlerender.fcgi?artid=416565
www.showmenews.com/2005/
Feb/20050209Life002.asp
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Food advertising to kids & youth gives them a skewed message about what foods are ‘good to eat’. They almost completely contradict nutrition messages promoted by health practitioners, teachers and parents…- the largest single source of media messages about food to children, especially younger children, is television. In 1996, Consumers International carried out an international comparative survey of television advertising aimed at children. The findings showed that Australia, US and UK had the most food advertisements, between 10 and 12 an hour or about 200 in a 20 hour period: this was twice as many advertisements as in Denmark, Germany and France, and between 6 to 10 times more than in Austria, Belgium and Sweden. The least amount of food advertising was in Sweden, which had almost no food ads (<1 ad/hour). In 2/3 of all countries food advertisements accounted for more than 40% of total advertisements; (1)
- Australian kids watch more television than children in almost every other country. The average Australian child (5-12 years old) watches 2h31 minutes of television every day. Research studies have found that on average 34% of advertising on TV is for food products, primarily junk food. In 2003, the Australian Divisions of General Practice (ADGP) conducted “A Junk Food Advertising Audit” . ADGP found that over 99% of food advertisements broadcast during children’s TV programming were for junk food (food high in fat, sugar and/or salt with little nutritional value). The main categories of foods advertised were (in descending order): fast food (hamburgers, pizza and fried chicken); soft drink; ice cream; and chocolate confectionery. Disturbingly, there were no ‘healthy eating’ messages broadcast during this time that promoted the benefits of a healthy and balanced diet. This means that children are receiving an overwhelmingly distorted message about diet from commercial television;
- over 75% of US food manufacturers' advertising budgets and 95% of US fast-food restaurant budgets are allocated to television. It is estimated that US children may view between 20,000 – 40,000 commercials each year. Food ads account for over 50% of all ads targeting children. Children view an average of one food commercial every 5 minutes of television viewing time, and may see as many as 3 hours of food commercials each week. US children in low-income families and minority youth tend to watch more television. Thus they have greater exposure to food ads;
- techniques used by TV food advertisers include prizes, give-aways, animation, special effects, story vignettes, jingles, and popular characters. The predominant messages put out to children relate to having fun and being cool when eating junk food;
- food manufacturers are cynically manipulating the food choices of children by using cartoon characters such as The Simpsons, Spider-Man and Bagpuss, the UK Consumer Association said in a scathing report released on February 2005. It identifies 18 ‘cartoon culprits’ in a shopping trolley survey that found unhealthy levels of fat, sugar and salt in the products being promoted by the children's characters. A survey of 2,000 people found 77% thought using cartoon characters to promote food made it difficult for parents to refuse to buy unhealthy foods their children demanded. And 81% of adults thought celebrities and sports personalities should promote healthy foods; (2)
- 3/4 of all advertising on children's television in Britain is for food, researchers say, and 90% of the ads are for products high in fat, sugar or salt. UK is in many ways the epicentre of childhood obesity in Europe. Nearly 20% of 10-year-olds and 10% of 6-year-olds in Britain are now obese, double the percentage in the 1980s. The number of overweight English children shot up by 7% from 1996 to 2001. Since the middle of 2005, the British government requires food to carry clear and accurate nutrition labels about fat, sugar and salt content; (3)
- in the United States, it is estimated that over US$1 billion is spent on media advertising to children, mostly on television. In addition, over US$4.5 billion is spent on youth-targeted promotions such as premiums, sampling, coupons, contests, and sweepstakes. About US$2 billion is spent on youth-targeted public relations, such as broadcast and print publicity, event marketing, and school relations. In addition, roughly US$3 billion is spent on packaging especially designed for children;
- there are many types of direct advertising in US schools. Recently, food marketing to youth in schools has become even more intense, persuasive, and creative. Some schools are now selling food advertising space on their athletes' warm-up suits, as well as inside and outside of school buses. A large multinational food company tested an advertising campaign in 2001 that paid ten elementary school teachers in Minneapolis, MN, US to drive cars to school that advertised a sweetened cereal; (4)
- in New Zealand, more than 60% of all ads close to the schools were for food, and of those 70% were for ‘unhealthy’ food, according to a report published in the New Zealand Medical Journal in July 2005. The study investigated on outdoor advertising for food displayed on billboards, signs of shops, bus shelters and the like within a kilometre of secondary schools; (5)
Food industry’s advertising spending is simply incomparable to governments and advocacy groups’ budgets to promote healthy eating behaviours… - in the United Kingdom, the 10 biggest food advertisers (all of which target children), have raised their yearly budget by a collective £100 million, or US$150 million, in the last 10 years. The biggest food advertiser, McDonald's, spent £44 million (about US$76,5 million) on ads in the past year, a figure that has doubled in the past decade; Coke was next in line, according to a report commissioned by the British government in 2004; (6)
- in the United States, in 1997, the advertising expenditures for various foods were: breakfast cereals – $792 million; candy and gum – $765 million; soft drinks – $549 million; and snacks – $330 million. Total expenditure for confectionery and snacks was US$1 billion. In contrast, during the same year, the US Department of Agriculture spent US$333 million on nutrition education, evaluation, and demonstrations;
- Advertising Age says that in 2000, McDonald’s spent US$665 million on food advertising, and Coke and Pepsi combined spent more than US$380 million. In comparison, the US National Cancer Institute’s 5-A-Day program attempted to promote eating more fruits and vegetables in 2003 for a paltry US$4 million. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Division of Nutrition and Physical Activity had an education budget of US$34 million in the same year.
(1) Television advertisements were monitored during approximately 20 hours of children's programming in 13 countries during a 3-month period in 1996. The 13 countries included Australia, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, United Kingdom and the USA.
(2) Stephen Brook, ‘Cartoon culprits' blamed by children's food survey, February 23, 2005, MediaGuardian.co.uk
(3) Elisabeth Rosenthal, “Europe takes aim at junk food ads”, International Herald Tribune, January 6, 2005.
(4) The cars were wrapped with a vinyl ad and teachers earned a US$250 monthly stipend for their efforts as ‘freelance brand managers’. The campaign was to last from early August through the first month of classes in September but was cancelled after 3 weeks due to public protest.
(5) [ www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO0507/S00136.htm]
(6) [ www.chdf.org.au/icms_wrapper?page=674&issurvey=&rand=0.36408799904356625 ]
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