The International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity recently published the findings of Mary Story and Simone French in a piece entitled "Food Advertising and Marketing Directed at Children and Adolescents in the US." Story and French, operating on the well-founded assumption that the food and beverage industry in the US views children and adolescents as a major market force, conclude that this phenomenon is actively contributing to the enduring state of ill-health and obesity that young Americans are experiencing.
Story and French show that there is a distinct correlation between childhood obesity and advertising trends. Food marketers recognize that young consumers have considerable spending power, exert formidable influence over the spending habits of their parents, and are eating more and more often away from home. Though many factors can influence eating behavior, it is food advertising that is wielding the most sinister weapon. Actively promoting unhealthy products and lifestyles to an audience that is not conditioned to question the content and message of the advertising, food marketers are deliberately capitalizing on the naivete and ignorance of the young consumer.
When one considers that 15% of American children are overweight, and that all children are now obtaining half of their caloric intake from fat or added sugar, it is difficult to deny that childhood obesity has become something of an epidemic in this country. The media is surely playing a significant role in enhancing these statistics, as Story and French cite that it is estimated that over $1 billion annually is spent on advertising to children. Add to this the fact that studies have shown that those foods marketed towards children are predominantly high in fat and sugar, and it becomes clear that food marketers are highly complicit in perpetuating ill-health trends among the young.
Story and French note that like cigarette ad...