https://thepsychologist.bps.org.uk/volume-18/edition-5/serving-trouble-advertising-food-children
Bringing more evidence to the table
In 2003 Professor Gerard Hastings and colleagues at the University of Strathclyde produced a groundbreaking and extensive report for the FSA, reviewing 200 studies (see weblinks). The report had two broad aims: to study the extent and nature of food promotion to children, and to determine the effect, if any, that this promotion has on their food knowledge, preferences and behaviour.
On the first point, the report said: ‘The advertised diet contrasts sharply with that recommended by public health advisors, and themes of fun and fantasy or taste, rather than health and nutrition, are used to promote it to children. Meanwhile, the recommended diet gets little promotional support.’ The report noted that food advertising to children in the UK was dominated by the ‘Big Five’: pre-sugared breakfast cereals, soft-drinks, confectionery, savoury snacks and fast-food outlets. Hastings and co. put it bluntly: children in the UK are exposed to extensive food advertising, and the diet advertised to these children is considerably less healthy than the diet healthcare experts would recommend.
With regard to the second point, the report concluded that food promotion did have an effect on what foods children choose. This modification of behaviour worked not only at the brand level (changing the preference say between two equivalent products, such as brands of potato crisps), but more importantly at category level (children were likely to eat more potato crisps).
Evidence to support these conclusions is not hard to find. Some interesting studies include Brody et al. (1981), who exposed young children to food advertisements
and then accompanied the child and their parent grocery shopping. Exposure to the food adverts increased the child’s attempts to influence the choice of purchases, particularly towards those food items that had been in the adverts. Similarly, Borzekowski and Robinson (2001) demonstrated that exposure to a 30-second food advert, embedded within a programme significantly altered food preferences in young children.
In our own study (Halford et al., 2004), the responses of 42 children (aged 9 to 11 years) to food adverts were measured. On one occasion the children were exposed to food adverts, on the other they were exposed to adverts for non-food items.
As expected, the obese and overweight children selectively remembered a greater number of the food-related adverts. However, all of the children (normal weight, overweight and obese) ate significantly more after exposure to the food adverts. Exposure to the TV food adverts also exaggerated the existing preferences of the children for foods high in fat or sugar. After the food adverts the children increased their intake of most foods with the exception of the savoury low-fat snack. In the obese children this was a significant reduction in the intake of the ‘healthy’ snack from what was an already low level of consumption.
As far as we are aware, this study was the first to demonstrate that exposure to advertisements increases actual food intake in children. It supports the notion that, in children, TV viewing may not just be a sedentary adiposity promoting behaviour. Exposure to food adverts can impact on eating behaviour, stimulating intake and exaggerating unhealthy food choice
On the first point, the report said: ‘The advertised diet contrasts sharply with that recommended by public health advisors, and themes of fun and fantasy or taste, rather than health and nutrition, are used to promote it to children. Meanwhile, the recommended diet gets little promotional support.’ The report noted that food advertising to children in the UK was dominated by the ‘Big Five’: pre-sugared breakfast cereals, soft-drinks, confectionery, savoury snacks and fast-food outlets. Hastings and co. put it bluntly: children in the UK are exposed to extensive food advertising, and the diet advertised to these children is considerably less healthy than the diet healthcare experts would recommend.
With regard to the second point, the report concluded that food promotion did have an effect on what foods children choose. This modification of behaviour worked not only at the brand level (changing the preference say between two equivalent products, such as brands of potato crisps), but more importantly at category level (children were likely to eat more potato crisps).
Evidence to support these conclusions is not hard to find. Some interesting studies include Brody et al. (1981), who exposed young children to food advertisements
and then accompanied the child and their parent grocery shopping. Exposure to the food adverts increased the child’s attempts to influence the choice of purchases, particularly towards those food items that had been in the adverts. Similarly, Borzekowski and Robinson (2001) demonstrated that exposure to a 30-second food advert, embedded within a programme significantly altered food preferences in young children.
In our own study (Halford et al., 2004), the responses of 42 children (aged 9 to 11 years) to food adverts were measured. On one occasion the children were exposed to food adverts, on the other they were exposed to adverts for non-food items.
As expected, the obese and overweight children selectively remembered a greater number of the food-related adverts. However, all of the children (normal weight, overweight and obese) ate significantly more after exposure to the food adverts. Exposure to the TV food adverts also exaggerated the existing preferences of the children for foods high in fat or sugar. After the food adverts the children increased their intake of most foods with the exception of the savoury low-fat snack. In the obese children this was a significant reduction in the intake of the ‘healthy’ snack from what was an already low level of consumption.
As far as we are aware, this study was the first to demonstrate that exposure to advertisements increases actual food intake in children. It supports the notion that, in children, TV viewing may not just be a sedentary adiposity promoting behaviour. Exposure to food adverts can impact on eating behaviour, stimulating intake and exaggerating unhealthy food choice
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