Junk Food Nation: The Battle Over Advertising To Children

We know what we like and those habits were mostly formed when we were young. With the world focused on childhood obesity, government agencies are moving to challenge advertising aimed at tweens and teens.

Though decried by some as matters of free speech and free choice, the debate over health care costs has demonstrated that weight, not age, is the primary driver of health care expense. If those habits are formed by the young and impressionable, they may become virtually impossible to change.

Even voluntary guidelines incite emotion. The weakened economy has everyone on edge and businesses are concerned about losing even more customers. The problem is that companies pay either way: through lost incremental business if ads are curtailed or through higher absenteeism, productivity declines and turnover if employees are not healthy. JL

Matt Cowan reports in PR Daily:

"Pepperoni pizza, energy drinks, and Doritos may not sound like a meal, but some advertisers want it to sound appetizing. That's what health advocates, as well as the federal government, are saying about junk food advertising aimed at children ages 12 to 17.

It's no secret that America's youth is dealing with rising numbers of obesity. The Federal Trade Commission is taking notice. Along with the Food and Drug Administration, The Agriculture Department, and the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, the FTC is proposing to limit the marketing of junk food to children, though these guidelines are strictly voluntary.
In a 2006 study conducted by the FTC, 44 companies surveyed spent $1.6 billion on adverting to kids and teenagers, with $870 billion going to those under the age of 12.

This isn't the first time advertisers have been challenged by heath advocates this year. In May, more than 1,750 health care providers sent a message to McDonald's CEO Jim Skinner asking him to stop advertising to children. The message appeared in full-page ads in newspapers across the country. McDonald's spends about $400 million annually on advertising directed at children.

In New York state, a bill has been introduced to place ads on school buses. This could potentially lead to junk food advertisements being put in plain sight of schoolchildren. The Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, as well as the New York State Healthy Eating and Physical Activity Alliance are leading the opposition to the bill.

Advertisers argue that there's a good deal of overlap between teenage-based and adult-based advertising, making a proposed restriction on advertising to adolescents a difficult challenge. And once children reach an age of around 16, advertisers argue, they should be allowed to make their own decisions about what they eat.