Joanna Cosgrove02.18.10
In recent years, the food and beverage industries have weathered harsh criticisms from parents and children’s health advocacy groups regarding not only the quality of food they market to children, but also their marketing methods. The industries yielded, offering healthier choices—kid’s meals with apple slices instead of fries, whole grain cereals, snacks in pre-portioned calorie packs, and bottled water that paired cool packaging with commercials encouraging kids to drink more water and less soda. To most parents, it would seem as if the food and beverage industries have made great strides in self-regulating the types of foods they market to kids. Not so, according to Washington, DC-based Children Now, a nonpartisan research and advocacy organization that works to favorably impact national policy agenda as it pertains to children’s well-being. The group recently released a report detailing the failings of the industries’ “Better-For-You” initiatives.
The study also criticized the use of licensed characters, noting that food of the poorest nutritional quality was often paired with a character that would appeal to kids. According to the study, nearly half of all food ads with popular children’s characters (49%), such as SpongeBob SquarePants, are for so-called “Whoa” products that pose the greatest risk for obesity.
In 2007, the U.S. Council of Better Business Bureaus spearheaded an effort to encourage a voluntary, self-regulatory program involving a commitment from food and beverage companies to improve the nutritional content of the foods they formulated for kids, as well as the ways they marketed them. Major food companies such as Kellogg’s, General Mills, ConAgra and PepsiCo banded together and pledged to stop advertising unhealthy foods to children and promised improvements in the nutritional quality of foods advertised to children. In an effort to hold the industry accountable to its promise, “The Impact of Industry Self-Regulation on the Nutritional Quality of Foods Advertised on Television to Children” report examined the current state and future viability of industry self-regulation and raised doubt about its ability to thwart the growing epidemic of childhood obesity.
Despite a major effort at self-regulation, the organization said, nearly three out of four (72.5%) of the foods advertised on television to children are for products in the poorest nutritional category. Known as “Whoa” foods, these products should be consumed only on “special occasions, such as your birthday,” according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Advertising for truly healthy foods, such as vegetables and fruits, known as “Go” products, is virtually invisible. Commercials for such foods account for only 1% of all food advertising to children.
“We cannot win the battle against childhood obesity as long as we continue to allow the industry to bombard children with ads for foods that they really shouldn’t eat very often,” said Dr. Dale Kunkel of the University of Arizona, who conducted the study for Children Now. “Other countries have already put a stop to this type of commercial exploitation, and it’s time for the U.S. to act more responsibly to protect the health of the nation’s children.”
The study also criticized the use of licensed characters, noting that food of the poorest nutritional quality was often paired with a character that would appeal to kids. According to the study, nearly half of all food ads with popular children’s characters (49%), such as SpongeBob SquarePants, are for so-called “Whoa” products that pose the greatest risk for obesity.
“Using licensed characters to sell unhealthy foods to children is an unfair practice, and has to be stopped,” warned Ted Lempert, president of Children Now.
The study pointed to what it termed “a strong body of existing research,” including a 2006 research review by the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies, and concluded that children’s exposure to television advertising for non-nutritious food products is a significant risk factor contributing to childhood obesity. “Amidst the resulting increase in public concern, the food and beverage industry pledged to voluntarily reduce the advertising of unhealthy foods to children through the Children’s Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative,” it said.
Sixteen of the nation’s top food companies—Kellogg’s, Kraft Foods, Coca-Cola, Cadbury Adams, Campbell’s Soup, McDonald’s, ConAgra Foods, Dannon, General Mills, Burger King, Hershey, Mars, Post, PepsiCo, Nestle and Unilever—participate in the initiative.
The study concluded with two salient points: that the industry has done everything it promised in terms of fulfilling the details of its self-regulatory pledges, and that effort has been “completely ineffective in shifting the landscape of food marketing to children away from its overwhelming emphasis on non-nutritious products that place children at risk of becoming obese.” With self-regulation fully implemented, nearly three-quarters (72.5%) of all food advertising to children continues to promote low-nutrient, high-density products that are classified in the poorest nutritional category by governmental standards.
“We have given the industry time and opportunity to address this issue,” said Jeff McIntyre, director of national policy for Children Now. “Unfortunately, the research indicates that their pledges have failed our children. We cannot afford to wait, since advertising has been identified as a key factor contributing to childhood obesity. We need strong regulation to address this quickly and aggressively.”
In addition to releasing the study on their website, Children Now also presented its research at a December Federal Trade Commission hearing on the issue of advertising to children and childhood obesity.
“Reversing the dramatic increase in childhood obesity requires an ‘all hands on deck’ approach across all sectors, including the food and beverage industry,” said Robert Ross, MD, president and chief executive officer of The California Endowment, the group that funded the study. “This and other research have made the case clear: we must act now and spare our children from a lifetime of poor health, chronic disease and high medical costs.”