|
| |
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
NIH: Banning Fast Food Ads Will Make Kids
Less Fat
Research Also Suggests Benefits From
Eliminating Tax Breaks
Emily
Bryson York
Advertising Age
November 19, 2008
CHICAGO (AdAge.com) -- A ban on fast-food advertising to
children would cut the national obesity rate by as much
as 18%, according to a new study conducted by the
National Bureau of Economic Research and funded by the
National Institutes of Health.
The study measured the number of fast-food ads kids
watched and found a fast-food TV-ad ban for children's
programming would reduce the number of overweight
children aged 3 to 11 by 18%, and for adolescents (12-
to 18-year-olds) by 14%. Data also revealed a more
pronounced effect on males than females.
Extensive data
The National Bureau of Economic Research describes the
study as "the largest of its kind to directly tie
childhood obesity to fast-food advertising on American
television," based on viewing habits of 13,000 children,
using data from U.S. Department of Labor research
carried out in 1979 and 1997. The study also reports
that eliminating tax deductions associated with TV
advertising would result in a reduction of childhood
obesity, though in smaller numbers.
"We have known for some time that childhood obesity has
gripped our culture, but little empirical research has
been done that identifies television advertising as a
possible cause," Shin-Yi Chou of Lehigh University, one
of the study's authors, said in a statement. "Hopefully,
this line of research can lead to a serious discussion
about the type of policies that can curb America's
obesity epidemic."
The other authors of the study, which appears in The
Journal of Law and Economics this month, were Inas
Rashad of Georgia State University and Michael Grossman
of City University of New York Graduate Center. It's
important to note that even the study's authors question
the practicality of so much governmental interference in
advertising.
"What it all comes down to is the choices parents make
for their kids," said Ellen Davis, a spokeswoman for the
National Council of Chain Restaurants, which represents
the industry. "Parents choose what their children eat
and where their children eat. We all know that children
have strong opinions, but parents make the choices."
Cause and effect
Amandine Garde, a law lecturer at the University of
Exeter who focuses on legal issues surrounding ad bans,
said the biggest hurdle to instituting limitations on
messaging to children has been proving the relationship
between ads and weight. "Now we're seeing the issue
being addressed, the causal relationship, which was
denied by the food industry for many, many years," she
said. "If you have a causal relationship, it makes the
case even stronger that there is a need for regulation."
Sweden and Norway instituted bans on all ads to children
in the early 1990s, but the legislation sought to avoid
exploitation rather than prevent obesity. Quebec has
banned food advertising to children during programs
geared toward kids, and the Canadian province has shown
lower childhood obesity rates than surrounding areas,
although there may be a variety of contributing factors.
Voluntary efforts under way
The industry, of course, has been taking steps on its
own, hoping to avoid a ban. Major food-industry players,
including McDonald's, Burger King, Kraft and Kellogg,
have signed on to the Council of Better Business
Bureaus' Childrens' Food and Beverage Advertising
Initiative. As part of the voluntary program,
participants have agreed to devote 50% of advertising
dollars geared at children under 12 to messages that
promote healthier dietary choices or more-active
lifestyles. Healthful-product messages must be
consistent with USDA and FDA standards. |
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
This article is copyrighted material, the use of
which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We
are making such material available in our efforts to advance
understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic,
democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this
constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided
for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17
U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without
profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the
included information for research and educational purposes. For more
information go to:
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml If
you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your
own that go beyond fair use, you must obtain permission from the
copyright owner |
|
|
|
|
Website Designed & Maintained By:
AfterFive by Design, Inc.
CCFC Logo And Fact Sheets By:
MonicaGraphicDesign.com
Copyright 2004 Commercial Free
Childhood. All rights reserved
|
| |
|
