THE ROLE OF THE MEDIA IN CHILDHOOD OBESITY

The Role of the Media in Childhood Obesity

Abstract

The use of mass media is the best way to reach large segments of the population and can be used as a positive strategy for addressing childhood obesity. Media has the power to educate the public, help change social norms for the youth about their own behavior, including their eating patterns as well as for parents about their actions on behalf of their children. Unfortunately, mass media particularly fast-food advertising has not often been used to address the problem of childhood obesity.

The Role of the Media in Childhood Obesity

Introduction Since 1980 the proportion of overweight children ages 6-11 has tripled. Today about 10% of 2 to 5 year-olds and 15% of 6 to 19 year-olds are overweight. During the same period in which childhood obesity increased, there was also an increase in media targeted to children. Even children ages 6 and under spend as much time with screen media as they do playing outside. Much of the media targeted to children promote foods such as sweets, fizzy drinks and snacks. It is estimated that a child sees approximately 40,000 advertisements a year on TV alone (Jordan,2007).

Merhod

This research is based on the secondary data. This research involved studies in detail the news, articles from journals, and online material available on the web. Using the methodology tested in previous studies, this study began with a broad review of the literature. The findings and conclusions are based on the secondary data.

Review Of Literature

A few ways researchers have hypothesised that advertisements may contribute to childhood obesity are:

•The food advertisements children are exposed to on TV influence them to make unhealthy food choices.

•The cross-promotions between food products and popular TV and movie characters are encouraging children to buy and consume more high-calorie foods.

Many researchers have suggested the food advertising children are exposed to through advertising may lead to unhealthy food choices and weight gain. As the number of channels available has risen considerably in the 1990s, opportunities to advertise directly to children expanded as well. The majority of ads targeted at children are for food including snacks (31%), cereal (23%) and fast food (27%). One study recorded approximately 11 food commercials per hour during children's Saturday morning television programming, estimating that the average child viewer may be exposed to one food commercial every 5 minutes(Jordan,2007)..

The effects of food advertising on children

TV ads can influence children's purchases - and those of their families. Fast food outlets spend 2 million pounds in television ads targeted to children.

Recent years have seen an increase in the number of food products being marketed to children through cross-promotions with popular TV and movie characters. A few examples are SpongeBob Cheez-its, Hulk pizzas and Scooby-Doo marshmallow cereal. Fast food outlets also make frequent use of cross-promotions with children's media characters. McDonalds and Disney have an exclusive agreement under which Happy Meals include toys from top Disney ...