Written by Jennifer Clark
April 10, 2011
The media is all around us. With the drastic improvement in technology over the last few decades, media sources have skyrocketed (Maibach, 2007; French, et al., 2001). Today there are millions of websites available on the internet, hundreds of channels available on the television, and an increased accessibility to music and downloading sites, all of which expose us to thousands of advertisements each day. In fact, out of all US household in 2009, 75% owned a home computer, 71% had an internet connection, and 81% has at least one cell phone. Unfortunately, as much as it is one of our main sources of entertainment, it has also contributed to the increase in sedimentary lifestyles and our awareness of body perception, which has ultimately contributed to the increase health risks in our society.
However, the media is not only influencing the lifestyles and behaviours of adults. Children learn much about their social world through the images and characters they see in media, and has been shown to influence their food preferences (Bandura, 2001; Harris and Bargh, 2009). Children are one of the most targeted groups for advertisement agencies. A review study conducted by Robert, et al. (2005) found that children are exposed to 8.5 hours of media each day, 6.5 hours of which they are actually using the particular media themselves. In the study, use of television and music outweighed all the other media sources. In another study conducted by Batadam & Wootan (2007), the results suggested that each day, children received an average of 65 messages from advertisements on television alone.
The majority of the advertisements shown on children networks promote food products, 98% of which are foods low in nutritional value (Powell, et al., 2007). In 2006, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) found that children would see approximately 5,538 different food ads from television, and teens would see approximately 5,512 in that year alone (Federal Trade Commission 2008). This comes as no surprise since in that same year, all children shows generated approximately 136 billion food ads with at least 50% had been targeted to children aged 2-11. Overall, It was estimated that food, beverage, and fast-food restaurants spent approximately $1.6 billion on advertisements with children as their main targeted audience.
In a study that investigated the types of advertisements shown on the Nickelodeon channel and the corresponding Nickelodeon’s magazine, the number-one entertainment company for children, it was found that 148 out of the 168 (88%) television food ads and 16 out of 21 (76%) of the magazine food ads promoted foods of poor nutritional quality (Batada & Wootan 2007). These advertisements included McDonald’s happy meals, Burger King’s kids meals, various carbonated drinks, sugary and salt snack foods, and sugary cereals (Powell, et al. 2007). This means that less that 20% of the food advertisements promoted healthy foods. Seeing as Nickelodeon is the top entertainment company for children, these advertisements are being exposed to the majority of the children in the North America. With these types of ads, they are ultimately encouraging unhealthy eating habits in all the children that use their media.
Furthermore, the advertisements incorporated the characters of the popular television shows that the children are watching. This brand recognition and positive association with the characters and the unhealthy food products is a popular method used in advertising to children in hopes of increasing interests in the processed foods market (Connor 2006). Unfortunately, marketers defend their choice to advertise to children because they have the right to free speech and that all foods, even the unhealthy foods, can be part of a balanced diet (Nestle, 2007). Since unhealthy food companies are willing to spend such large amounts of their budgets advertising to children, marketers are more than willing to make advertisements that make them the most money.
Ironically, Nickelodeon is a major sponsor for promoting childhood obesity awareness, and has partnered with Michelle Obama in her “Let’s Move” campaign to reduce childhood obesity. In doing so, Nickelodeon has incorporated small segments in between their shows that encourage children to go out and play. Yet, Nickelodeon continues to advertise unhealthy foods using brand recognition and positive association, sending mixed signals to children about what it means to live healthily.
Hastings, et al. (2003) conducted a review of more than 30,000 research articles regarding the effects of advertisements on children’s food choices and found that there was a distinct effect on the types of advertisements shown to children and the foods they chose to eat afterwards. Furthermore, many studies have shown that younger children are more likely to believe the health claims in advertisements and are more likely to ask their parents for the high-sugar foods they saw in the advertisements (ASPE 2011). Thus, advertising low-nutritional quality food towards children can influence their food choices early in life. With the increase in caloric intake from these low-nutritional foods, children are put at risk of developing nutritional deficiencies and other serious health issues like diabetes, obesity, and hypertension.
In addition, eating while watching television is linked to overeating. Conn, et al. (2001) conducted a study on the relationship between the amount of time spent watching television during meals and the amount of food consumed. The results showed that parent-child pairs that watched television during two or more meals a day consumed 6% more calories from meats, 5% more from pizza, 5% more salty snacks and soda, and almost 5% less in fruits, vegetables and juices, compared to parent-child pairs who watched television during one or no meals each day. The reasoning behind this extra caloric intake is believed to be because of the self-monitoring that is lost when watching media. Instead of concentrating on body signals that tell a person when they are full, people are concentrating on the entertainment from the media, therefore consuming more than they normal would if they were not distracted (French, et al. 2001). Scientist believe that this extra caloric intake contributes to the increase in body fat and puts children and adults at risk of developing serious health risks later in life.
Regardless to what type of media is being used, watching and reading media encourages a sedimentary lifestyle (Boyce, 2006; Marshall, et al. 2004). In a cohort study conducted on the association between BMI and the amount of participation in physical activity in 3-6 years of age, a strong correlation was found between the increased time spent on watching television and the decreased time spent on physical exercise (Jago, et al. 2005). At the same time, the National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (2011) suggests that participation in physical activity declines as a child gets older, with less than 20% of high school students regularly participating in at least 60 minute of physical activity per day. With the reduced amount of physical exercise and the increase in caloric intake, children have adapted unhealthy lifestyles that put them at risk of health problems in the future.
Also, media has been shown to influence the self-esteems of adolescents, contributing to body dissatisfaction and obsessions of body image (Groesz, et al., 2001; Taveras, et al., 2004). The media today has turned weight into a social issue and has created an idealistic perception of what beauty should look like. Being overweight or obese is seen as socially unacceptable. In a study conducted with adolescent girls and boys (ages 9-16), both sexes increased the amount of physical activity per week in hopes of constructing their bodies to look like those seen in the media (Taveras, et al., 2004). Although the increase of physical activity per week contributes to a healthy lifestyle, the body dissatisfaction that comes from disappointing results because of the unrealistic body images seen in the media contributes to an unhealthy mental well-being.
With the power that media has over children’s food choices, participation in physical activities, and their mental well-being, it comes as no surprise that children can develop unhealthy lifestyle choice when exposed to certain advertisements. To eliminate the increase in health risks associated with poor nutrition during childhood, advertisement should be restructured to encourage children to live healthily and understand that low-nutritional foods and sedimentary activities are not encouraged for their health and should be chosen on occasion rather than on a normal basis.
References:
ASPE (2011). Childhood Obesity. U.S. Department of Health & Human Services: Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation. [web] http://aspe.hhs.gov/health/reports/ child_obesity/#_ftn93. Viewed March 9, 2010.
Bandura, A. (2001). Social cognitive theory of mass communication. Media Psychology, 3, 265-299.
Batadam A. and Wootan, M. G. (2007). Nickelodeon markets nutrition-poor foods to children. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 33, (1), 48-50.
Boyce, T. (2007). The media and obesity. The International Association of the Study of Obesity. obesity reviews 8, (1), 201-205.
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National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (2011). Health Topics: Physical Activity. CDC. [web] http://www.cdc.gov/HealthyYouth/physical-activity/facts.htm. Viewed on March 9, 2010.
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Taveras, E. M., Rifas-Shiman, S. L., Field, A. E., Frazier, A. L., Colditz, G. A., Gillman, M. W. (2004). The influence of wanting to look like media figures on adolescent physical activity. Journal of Adolescent Health, 35, 1, 41-50.
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