Should We Ban Advertising Junk Food to Kids?
- Posted by: Siobhan O'Connor
- on October 28, 2009 at 7:49 am
Couple things we know. Childhood obesity is basically a national health crisis. Sugar cereals, as we called them when I was a kid, are not good for us, despite being delicious and despite marketers’ best efforts to have us think otherwise. Now, thanks to a leaked Yale University report, we can add one more factoid to he mix: Preschoolers are bombarded with cereal ads an average of 642 a year.
Now, we’re not talking about ads kids may incidentally happen upon. We’re talking about targeted and wily marketing campaigns geared directly and solely to kids, like this weird website where kids can play around in a silly rabbit’s phantasmagoric world, in which the grass is sprinkled in—what else?—Trix.
As for the titular question—it’s something Eric Schlosser proposes in the epilogue to Fast Food Nation. He says it plainly: “Congress should ban advertising that preys upon children.” Well, a couple of years ago, the business pledged to begin policing itself (which always works out great, right?), and that has resulted in the marketing of sugar-filled cereals as solid nutritional choices because of their low calorie count or because there are “grains” in each serving.
It’s been a bad week for the cereal business, but next week will probably be worse, when crappy cereals are fingered as public enemy number one at the national obesity conference in Washington.
So what do you think? Should Congress step in? Should people vote with their wallets instead? Is it fair game in a free market economy?
DISCUSSION: 5 Comments
Should We Ban Advertising Junk Food to Kids? Yes, we should!
I agree Julia. I think there’s lots of room for us to get more heavy-handed with regulations on advertisers. I’m not that worried about infringing on the free speech of cereal makers.
In the UK, there has recently been many restrictions introduced on advertising during childrens programming, though it’s too soon to see if it has had any positive effect.I think you would struggle to find many people in the general public who support advertising these sugary goods aimed at children. The only people who will support it is the guys who make the cereals, and the guys who are desperate for the advertising dollars.
I can’t help but think the question must be – why would we allow it? Any advertising aimed at young children is intrinsically difficult. They have no filter developed (or call it cynicism) by which to differentiate between ‘truth’ and marketing claims, or between tv programming and the ad break.Unfortunately, the UK ban is limited to the obvious children’s programming, but clearly many kids are exposed to much more television. That said, it’s a start!
Joe, I’d even say that many of the cereal people themselves are against such idea, but one has to have a job, right? But the desperate advertising guys definitely support any idea that pays off. Good to know about the restrictions in the UK!! And I agree with the comment above – even if little, but it’s a first step!