New Study Finds That Food Is the Top Product Seen Advertised by Children - Among All Children, Tweens See the Most Food Ads at More Than 20 a Day

34% of All Food Ads Targeting Children or Teens Are for Candy and Snacks

Half of All Ads Shown During Children's Shows Are for Food

    WASHINGTON, March 28 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- As the fight against
 childhood obesity escalates, the issue of food advertising to children has
 come under increasing scrutiny. Policymakers in Congress, the Federal Trade
 Commission (FTC), and agencies such as the Institute of Medicine (IOM) have
 called for changes in the advertising landscape, and U.S. food and media
 industries are developing their own voluntary initiatives related to
 advertising food to children. To help inform this debate, the Kaiser Family
 Foundation today released the largest study ever conducted of TV food
 advertising to children.
     The study, Food for Thought: Television Food Advertising to Children in
 the United States, combines content analysis of TV ads with detailed data
 about children's viewing habits, to provide an estimate of the number and
 type of TV ads seen by children of various ages. The study found that
 tweens ages 8-12 see the most food ads on TV, an average of 21 ads a day,
 or more than 7,600 a year. Teenagers see slightly fewer ads, at 17 a day,
 for a total of more than 6,000 a year. For a variety of reasons -- because
 they watch less TV overall, and more of their viewing is on networks that
 have limited or no advertising, such as PBS and Disney -- children ages 2-7
 see the least number of food ads, at 12 food ads a day, or 4,400 a year.
     For each age group studied, food was the top product seen advertised.
 Thirty-two percent of all ads seen by 2-7 year olds were for food, while
 25% of ads seen by 8-12 year olds and 22% of ads seen by 13-17 year olds
 were for food. Of all genres on TV, shows specifically designed for
 children under 12 have the highest proportion of food advertising (50% of
 all ad time).
     "Children of all ages see thousands of food ads a year, but tweens see
 more than any other age group," said Vicky Rideout, vice president and
 director of the Program for the Study of Entertainment Media and Health at
 the Kaiser Family Foundation. "Since tweens are at an age where they're
 just becoming independent consumers, understanding what type of advertising
 they are exposed to is especially important."
     Types of Food Advertised. Of all food ads in the study that target
 children or teens, 34% are for candy and snacks, 28% are for cereal, and
 10% are for fast foods. Four percent are for dairy products and 1% for
 fruit juices. Of the 8,854 ads reviewed in the study, there were none for
 fruits or vegetables targeting children or teens.
     Appeals Employed to Advertise Food. One in five (20%) food ads
 targeting children or teens include a push to a website, and a similar
 proportion (19%) include the offer of a premium, such as a game or toy.
 About one in ten (11%) have a tie-in to a children's TV or movie character.
     Physical Activity Portrayed. Fifteen percent of all food ads targeting
 children or teens include depictions of a physically active lifestyle, such
 as showing children skateboarding, snowboarding, or playing basketball.
     Public Service Advertising. The study also measured children's exposure
 to public service messages on fitness or nutrition (whether donated or
 paid). Children 2-7 and 8-12 see an average of one such message every 2-3
 days (164 a year for 2-7 year-olds and 158 a year for 8-12 year-olds).
 Teens 13-17 see just one such message per week, for an average of 47 per
 year. "While public service ads on fitness and nutrition may well play an
 important role in helping to fight childhood obesity, we need to be
 realistic about our expectations, given how few such messages children
 see," Rideout said.
     The report was released today at a forum in Washington, D.C. that
 featured U.S. Senator Sam Brownback, food industry leaders, health
 officials, and consumer advocates. The report and a webcast of the session
 (available after 12:30 p.m. ET) can be found at
 http://www.kff.org/entmedia/entmedia032807pkg.cfm.
                                    Methods
     The study is based on a sample of 1,638 hours of television content,
 including a detailed analysis of 8,854 food ads. Because children's viewing
 habits vary substantially by age, the studies' findings are presented
 separately for children ages 2-7, 8-12, and 13-17. Nielsen data were used
 to determine the top television networks for each of the three age groups.
 Any network in the top 10 for any one of the age groups was included in the
 study (Black Entertainment Television was also included because previous
 Kaiser research had showed it to be in the top ten networks among all 13-17
 year- olds, and the number-one network for African Americans 8-18). A total
 of 13 networks were included: ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC, The WB, UPN, PBS, ABC
 Family, BET, The Cartoon Network, Disney, MTV, and Nickelodeon. A week's
 worth of content from 6 a.m. to midnight was recorded and coded for each
 network, using a composite week sampling method to increase
 representativeness. The sample was primarily collected from May - September
 2005.
     The sample of television content was then reviewed by trained coders.
 All ads and PSAs were coded by subject matter, and all food ads were coded
 for type of food, target audience, type of appeal, and various other
 characteristics such as use of a premium or depiction of a physically
 active lifestyle.
     The data from the content analysis was paired with detailed viewing
 data to yield an estimate of the number and type of advertising actually
 seen by children. Viewing data is from a sample of 1,090 parents of
 children ages 2-7 and 3,032 8-18 year-olds, including the amount of time
 children spend watching, and the proportion of viewing time spent watching
 specific networks and genres of programming. This allows researchers to
 take into account the proportion of children's viewing that is spent
 watching children's shows (where the amount of advertising is limited by
 law, but a larger proportion of ads are for food) or networks such as PBS
 or Disney, which have distinct advertising policies and virtually no food
 ads.
     The study was designed by Kaiser Family Foundation staff in
 collaboration with Professor Walter Gantz at Indiana University, and data
 were collected and analyzed by Professor Gantz and his colleagues Nancy
 Schwartz and James Angelini. At the Foundation, the project was directed
 by, and the report co- authored by, Vicky Rideout, vice president and
 director of the Foundation's Program for the Study of Entertainment Media
 and Health.
                               Policy Background
     Institute of Medicine (IOM): In December 2005, the IOM issued a report
 titled Food Marketing to Children and Youth: Threat or Opportunity. The
 report included an extensive review of research on the impact of
 advertising on children's diets and health, and recommended shifting the
 emphasis of food advertising to children toward healthier options. The
 report recommended that if voluntary industry efforts are not successful,
 Congress should enact legislation mandating such a shift on broadcast and
 cable television.
     Children's Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative (Initiative): In
 November 2006, many of the most prominent food companies advertising to
 children and youth joined the Initiative, pledging, among other things, to
 devote at least half of all advertising directed to children under 12 to
 promoting healthier dietary choices, and/or to messages that encourage good
 nutrition or healthy lifestyles. Member companies are scheduled to announce
 their specific commitments and timetables for implementation within
 approximately 6-9 months from the announcement of the Initiative.
     Great Britain: In November 2006, British regulators banned advertising
 for high fat, salt and sugar foods (HFSS) in programming made for children
 or of particular appeal to children under age 16. In addition, the
 government's regulatory agency Ofcom (Office of Communications) voted to
 prohibit the use of licensed characters, celebrities, promotional offers
 and health claims in food advertising to children.
     American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP): In December 2006 the AAP issued a
 policy statement recommending, among other things, that Congress "implement
 a ban on junk-food advertising during programming that is viewed
 predominantly by young children."
     Federal Trade Commission (FTC): In April 2006 the FTC issued a report
 titled Perspectives on Marketing, Self-Regulation and Childhood Obesity
 that recommended a shift toward marketing of healthier foods to children,
 and an increase in the use of media to promote health and wellness. Per the
 request of Congress, the FTC is also preparing a report on the marketing
 practices of the food and beverage industry.
     The Kaiser Family Foundation is a non-profit, private operating
 foundation dedicated to providing information and analysis on health care
 issues to policymakers, the media, the health care community and the
 general public. The Foundation is not associated with Kaiser Permanente or
 Kaiser Industries.
 
 

SOURCE Kaiser Family Foundation