Advertising Impacts Children

By: Spencer H, Alyse H, Stephen K

Advertising affects children's diets, preferences, and requests in a major way. According to the article "Media Use and Obesity among Children," children spend 44.5 hours a week in front of a computer, television, or game screen. During these hours, kids are exposed to thousands of ads promoting everything from food to clothing. To make these ads suitable for children, they will show a picture of a cartoon character, such as Shrek or Spiderman, on the product. Often times cartoons will catch the attention of kids, and then the kids will beg their parents to buy what is being sold.

All of this advertising leads to another growing problem in the United States today, childhood obesity. The journalist who wrote the article "Media Use and Obesity among Children" says that 30.3% of children from ages 6-11 are considered overweight. This number has been increasing dramatically for the past few decades. To stop this from happening, some organizations are trying to educate people about what is healthy and what isn't. In a recent New York Times article called "Report Links TV Ads and Childhood Obesity" by Marian Burros, the National Academies' Institute of Medicine claimed that they are going to educate the public about making healthy choices. The NAIM has also made recommendations to certain companies to have popular cartoon characters promote healthy foods instead of junk food like candy bars, fruit snacks, and soda.

According to the article "Media Use and Obesity among Children," some industries have made improvements in their sales to help solve the obesity problem in the United States today. Two of these industries are the American Advertising Federation and the Grocery Manufacturers of America. Hopefully, more factories will start to make their foods healthier to try to stop obesity today.

Sources:

Burros, Marian. "Report Links TV Ads and Childhood Obesity." New York Times.com. December 6, 2005. The New York Times. May 25, 2007. <http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/06/business/media/06cnd-kids.html?ex=1291525200&en=c81a1eea871613b1&ei=5090>.

"Fact Sheet: Media Use and Obesity among Children."Mediafamily.org. November, 2006. National Institute on Media and the Family. May 25, 2007. http://www.mediafamily.org/facts/facts_tvandobchild.shtml>

1st hour

220 Amherst Avenue

Sheboygan Falls, WI 53085

The Sheboygan Press

632 Center Ave.

P.O. Box 358

Sheboygan, WI 53081

Dear Editor,

Obesity is a growing matter in the United States of America. If you were to watch two straight hours of television on a children's network, what kind of commercials would you be seeing? Fast food, fattening treats, and video games are the most common products to be advertised. These products are the leading cause to obsesity. We are high school students concerned about this problem.

Parents can do the most to stop the obesity problem since children are the main people who are becoming overweight. When kids beg for junk food, parents can get healthy foods instead for the children to eat. Another thing parents can do is persuade the children to play outside instead of play video games and become couch potatoes. This alone will dramatically help solve the problem. One last thing parents can do to stop the obesity problem is not offer rides to their children. Kids shouldn't be able to hop in a car and get a ride from their mom or dad to go where they want. They should be encouraged to walk or ride their bike to their destination.

There are two main ideas adults can use to watch their own weight; eat less and excercise more. There are many healthy activities that people can take part in to get excercise, such as running, basketball, biking, weightlifting, or anything else that you enjoy doing. When you eat, you should eat vegetables, fruits, and wheats instead of fattening, high sugared sweets.

Although the obesity rate is growing rapidly, the population can come together to put it to a stop. With some effort, we can greatly enhance the image of our nation.

Stephen Klescewski, Alyse Hucke, Spencer Hurlburt