TV Link to Obesity
By: Marissa, Matt, Stephanie
The link between television ads and obesity has been disturbingly increasing as the years have progressed. Researchers have come to the conclusion that because of the various cartoon characters embedded on the front of the non-nutritious treats has caused kids to become exceedingly overweight.
In 1994, there were only 52 food related products advertised towards kids but since last year there have been 500 food related products introduced that were geared towards children. 34% of the advertisements were on the faces of candy and snacks, 28% were on cereal boxes, 10% on different fast food meals, 4% on dairy products, and 1% on fruit juices. The horrible realization of this however is that no advertisements were tied in with fruits and vegetables.
Another appalling truth is that most all of these food products and commercials are advertised towards teenagers and younger. However, the sad fact is that points of views from children, who are 12 or younger, are strongly influenced by television advertisement. Children who rage in age from 8 to 12 years old see an average of 21 ads each day while kids from 2 to 7 years of age see about 12 ads per day. But children don’t just see these ads from random channels and networks. Food and advertisement companies target specific networks that have a high percentage of children viewers such as ABC, PBS, ABC family, MTV, Nickelodeon, and many more.
The no surprising outcome is that we, as a whole, need to be more aware of everything that the media is doing to promote their foods. By letting children know that just because they see their favorite T.V. character on a box doesn’t necessarily mean proper nutrition, we will be able to fight back on the rising level of obesity that has overtaken so many kids.
SOURCES
Associated Press. "Report: TV ads contribute to child obesity." msnbc.msn.com. December 6, 2005. MSNBC. May 23, 2007. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10346448/%20
Burros, Marian. "Report Links TV Ads and Childhood Obesity." nytimes.com. December 6, 2005. The New York Times. May 23, 2007. http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/06/business/media/06cnd-kids.html?ex=1291525200&en=c81a1eea871613b1&ei=5090
"New Study Finds That Food Is the Top Product Seen Advertised by Children". prnewswire.com. March 28. Kaiser
Foundation. May 23, 2007. http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/03-28-2007/0004555088&EDATE
7th hour
The Letter to the Editor
220 Amherst Avenue
Sheboygan Falls, WI 53085
30 May 2007
The Sheboygan Press
632 Centre Ave
P.O. Box 358
Sheboygan, WI 53081
Editor:
We are students from the Sheboygan Falls High School and we would like to address a problem that is overtaking our society.
The media has assumed that the main link to childhood obesity is because of the various cartoon characters being advertised on the front of different non-nutritious boxes. This isn’t the case at all. Although advertising cartoon characters is only a faction of the obesity increase. The main cause is that parents’ are not paying close enough attention to what their kids are consuming.
So many parents are in such a hustle these days they don’t watch what their kids are consuming. Instead they let the kids control what they put in the shopping carts just so they continue with their day. The quicker they get done with one thing they can move on to the next thing on the list. When kids ask for a snack and the parents are busy with a business call or just don’t have time they just let them have the snack.
If parents would be more aware of this critical issue than there would be a definite decrease of obesity in our country. Having more people aware of this rising issue could solve this problem. If children have bad food choices now than that is all they will know and they won’t be able to fully comprehend how much junk food is damaging their body.
Sincerely,
Stephanie, Matt, and Marissa
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