Reducing Exposure to Advertisements

Children lack the cognitive skills to understand the persuasive intent of advertising and need protection from commercial exploitation. The food industry states that advertising only affects brand choice and does not affect the diet overall. This stance is contradicted by a considerable body of research and by the stark imbalance between unhealthful vs. healthful foods being promoted. For instance, there is little encouragement for children to eat fresh fruits and vegetables but a consistent, well-crafted, and massively funded campaign to encourage children to want sugared cereals, soft drinks, fast food, etc. Study after study, report after report come to conclusions like these:

“Advertising and promotion of energy-dense, nutrient-poor food products to children may need to be regulated or curtailed.”
-- American Academy of Pediatrics, 2003

“Such advertising efforts, in our view, are fundamentally unfair because of young children’s comprehension of the nature and purpose of television advertising, and therefore warrant government action to protect young children from commercial exploitation.”
-- American Psychological Association, 2004

“…it appears likely that the main mechanism by which media use contributes to childhood obesity may well be through children’s exposure to billions of dollars of food advertising and cross-promotional marketing year after year, starting at the youngest ages, with children’s favorite media characters often enlisted in the sales pitch… Research indicates that children’s food choices – and parents’ food purchases – are significantly impacted by the advertising they see.”
-- Kaiser Family Foundation, 2004

“…marketing affects food choice and influences dietary habits, with subsequent implications for weight gain and obesity.”
-- World Health Organization, 2004

“The research evidence is strong showing that preschoolers’ and grade school children’s food preferences and food purchase requests for high sugar and high fat foods are influenced by television exposure to food advertising”
-- Story & French, Int J Behav Nutr Phys Activity, 2004

The reduction of exposure to ads – including suggestions to ban advertising to very young children and to strictly limit the advertising of junk foods to children – has been advocated for decades. This position was taken by the task force of experts empanelled by the American Psychological Association in 2004. The task force concluded that it is inherently unfair to market to young children because they lack the cognitive skills to understand the persuasive intent of advertising and that the protection of young children from commercial exploitation warrants the creation and enforcement of governmental limitations on advertising to children, ranging from outright bans to nutritional standards for advertised foods.