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Gemma Hobbs

Professor Philbin

WRTC 230

April 28, 2011

An Investigation into the Influence of the Media on Adolescent Overweight and Obesity:

Does food advertising through television, movies, and the Internet translate to an

epidemic?

Introduction

The rates of overweight and obesity in America are frightening, and continue to

worsen. This epidemic should come as no surprise to anyone interested in the health of

America’s population, or its adolescents, for that matter. The current state of affairs for

children and adolescents up to age 19 is worrisome; it could even be argued that food

corporations and marketers have a fair amount to gain from our younger generation

becoming, and remaining, fat. Extensive research has been collected surrounding the

extent of influence media has on the health of America’s adolescents. It is true that the

food marketing industry is vital to our nation’s economy, and billions of dollars are

invested into marketing and advertising of food brands each year. But what is the real

cost for child and adolescent health in America? This paper seeks to investigate the

undeniable influence food marketing has on the health of American adolescents, and why

food marketing tactics have such a strong effect.

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Defining Overweight and Obesity

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, overweight and

obesity for children and teens aged 2 to 20 are defined by using BMI (body mass index)

measurements (CDC.gov). The body mass index equation calculates the ratio of weight to

height and provides a baseline for an individual’s body fat. BMI-for-age growth charts

specific to boys and girls are used to determine if an adolescent is overweight or obese.

For example, a 10-year old boy with a BMI of 23 is placed in the obese category for his

age, as exhibited by Figure 1 following.

Figure 1. Body mass index-for-age percentile chart for boys 2 to 20 years of age

Source: http://imonitorhealth.com/

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Figure 1 shows a growth chart based on BMI-for-age percentile for boys aged 2 to

20 years. The green area, between the 5th and 85th percentiles, shows the approximate

range for which a boy would be considered at an acceptable BMI for his age, whereas the

yellow and red areas indicate health risks associated with BMI.

According to one study, a child is overweight if he or she is above the 85th

percentile, and obese if above the 95th percentile (Anderson et al, 34). NHANES, also

known as the National Health and Nutrition Surveys, defines overweight as 85th to 95th

percentiles of weight for length-growth references (Deckelbaum, 240).

To read a growth chart correctly, one must employ the following rule: if the child

is in the 85th percentile, it means that 85% of children the same age have the same or less

BMI, and the child is heavier than 85% of children his or her age. One can see that being

in the 97th percentile, for example, means that a child is heavier than most of his or her

age-specific population, which translates to being overweight or obese. While percentiles

are imprecise and do not necessarily convey ill health or high risk of disease, they are

useful measures for determining the health of a child or adolescent.

Current Statistics and Risks Associated with Overweight and Obesity

As noted previously, the rates of obesity for our younger generation are startlingly

high, and these rates carry risks of chronic health problems. According to Healthy People

2020, a nationwide initiative to promote healthy behaviors and reduce the incidence of

chronic disease by 2020, the prevalence of obesity in children and adolescents is the

highest in Mexican-American children and non-Hispanic black girls

(HealthyPeople.gov). In a study done between the years of 2007 and 2008, 12% of

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children 2 to 19 were at or above the 97th percentile of BMI-for-age, and 32% were at or

above the 85th percentile; America currently holds with a shocking 17.1% of children and

adolescents overweight (Ogden, 246). It has been noted that, “since the late 1970s,

obesity rates have more than doubled among children 6 to 11 years of age, and more than

tripled among those 12 to 19 years of age” (Nestle, 2528). Clearly, the word “epidemic”

is not used lightly to describe the prevalence of these conditions among our youth.

The risks attributed to being overweight or obese are numerous. Chronic diseases

such as type 2 diabetes, heart disease, osteoarthritis, and cancer, and chronic disease risk

factors such as high blood pressure and dyslipidemia, are more common in those who are

overweight or obese (Deckelbaum, 239). In addition to physical maladies, being

overweight or obese can cause a child social and psychological distress. Negative self-

esteem, withdrawal from interaction with peers, anxiety and depression, and a feeling of

rejection are common among children and adolescents with extra weight (Deckelbaum,

241). These are all personality characteristics that can develop early on and persist into

adulthood, affecting one’s quality of life for years to come.

Marketing of Food Products in Current Media

Children and adolescents in America are exposed to a gross amount of food

advertisements almost incessantly via television, movies, the Internet, and other ad

mediums. PBS, Disney, and Nickelodeon are some of the main channels that children

view regularly, and each of these popular networks showcase a significant amount of

advertisements. In a sick turn of history, cartoons were explicitly created for food

marketers to advertise their sugary cereals (De Graaf et al, 56). TV provided yet another

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way for food marketers to edge their way into children’s spheres of consciousness.

Today, American children “may view between 20,000 and 40,000 commercials each

year…and may see as many as three hours of food commercials each week,” with most of

these foods heavy in fats and sugars (Linn, 557). With most of the commercials

promoting nutritionally poor items, how could one not see the connection between the

ever-plummeting health statuses of our nation’s younger generation?

Movies also serve as prime hosts for brand names and product placement.

Research has shown that from 1996 to 2005, of 200 movies audited, 69% contained at

least one food brand advertisement (Sutherland, 468). Shrek the Third, the 2007 hit kids

film, featured McDonalds, M&M’s, and Kellogg’s deals throughout its promotion, so any

child could find Shrek himself adorning the packaging of an M&M’s bag or the like

(Linn, 141). Children who see their beloved characters smiling on bags of food tend to

ask for these foods to be bought when they are invading the aisles of supermarkets.

Spongebob Squarepants is featured on Kraft’s macaroni and cheese boxes (2002) and

Kellogg’s fruit flavored snacks feature characters from Nickelodeon and Cartoon

Network (Linn, 138). The as-seen-on-TV factor seems to be a pique point of interest for

young viewership, which translates into asking for these products at the supermarket and

purchasing them individually.

Popular gaming web sites and sites of food companies themselves are infected

with marketing propaganda: the McDonald’s website features games, puzzles, and

quizzes, while Kellogg’s mini-site for Apple Jacks proudly displays “Great news, NO

apple taste” as a slogan (kelloggs.com/applejacks). In-game advertising on the Internet is

a “highly sophisticated, finely tuned strategy that combines product placement,

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behavioral targeting, and viral marketing to forge ongoing relationships between brands

and individual gamers” - of course, the companies implicated in this volatile quotation

are McDonalds, Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Burger King, Gatorade, and Mountain Dew (Frith and

Mueller, 151).

Websites used primarily by children are steadily rising in the ranks as a prime

medium for advertisement. Neopets, an adolescent gaming site of the early 2000s that is

still in existence, allows marketers to make use of “immersive advertising,” a tactic in

which games and gaming sites slyly feature images of certain products (Linn, 140). A

Heinz executive noted that after the EZ squirt ketchup was immersed in a game on

Neopets, “awareness just went through the roof [and] trials of the product increased by 18

percent” (Linn, 140). The rise of the immersive advertising technique is certainly one to

be concerned with, as it is a less blatant and more “fun” way of building brand loyalty

and curiosity in young gamers. Figure 2 on the following page (page 7) shows a

screencap of the Neopets marketplace – can you find the immersive advertising example?

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Figure 2. Neopets screenshot showing the infiltration of McDonalds, Lucky Charms, and

Trix onto the children’s popular website

Source: Google Images.

Here we see that the Neopets Marketplace features a McDonalds and the mascots

for Lucky Charms and Trix. One can see that the average American adolescent is

exposed to aggressive and almost constant food advertisement, with most of this

advertising for unhealthy foods that contribute to weight gain and poor health.

Investing in Overweight

Major food brands dedicate a staggering amount of money to advertising. In the

United States in 2001, Coca-Cola allotted $224 million, Nestle candy $65 million, Frito-

Lay Company $24.8 million, and McDonalds $635 million, Burger King $298 million,

and KFC $206 million all to advertising (Story). Aquafina bottled water, on the other

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hand, only allotted $13.2 million for advertisements. This money is well-spent for its

purpose: it has been shown that children under the age of eight are vulnerable to

misleading advertising, as they have not developed a sense of bias and believe

advertisements at their word (Sutherland, 469). Food marketers realize the value of

building brand loyalty from a young age and tend to associate beloved characters from

TV shows, movies, and the Internet with food products, in addition to making their

products seem fun and exciting. These marketing tricks are clearly having some sort of

influence on the population at hand.

Targeting of Children

As decades have passed, the emphasis placed on television marketing has

increased. In 1983, a conglomerate of food companies spent $100 million on TV

advertising to children, yet by 2000 Burger King alone spent $80 million and in 2007

food and beverage marketers spent $10-$15 billion a year targeting the youth in all sorts

of media (Linn, 134). Moreover, food companies cater to the changing technology and

viewership of their ads. For example, in the 1970s when children’s programming was

mostly on broadcast TV, 77% of product advertising for these channels was for food –

yet by the mid-1990s, when cable TV was more prevalent for children, 80% of product

advertising was for food in these channels (Powell, 557).

It is clear that food companies pursue prime-time spots in order to market as much

as they can to younger viewers and build brand loyalty in future purchasers. Because

children younger than the age of about eight years “cannot differentiate between program

content and advertisements,” building brand loyalty in youngsters is not particularly hard,

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but is very effective (Linn, 135). It should also be noted that research has shown by the

age of two, most children in the United States can recognize products in supermarkets

(Nestle, 2528). Marketing to younger children can pay off nicely in the future.

How much are they advertising?

Extensive research has been conducted on the time allotted for advertisements for

different networks, a number of which are food-oriented advertisements. Furthermore,

many of these food advertisements contain fat- and sugar-laden items. Obviously, it is

worthwhile to quantify the amount of food advertisements children typically see on their

favorite channels, and the proportion of which are for nutritionally-poor foods.

One station is easy to pick on. Nickelodeon is touted as the “most-watched

children’s television station, hosting 47 of the top 50 children’s programs” – quite a

monopoly and potential breeding ground for young would-be consumers (Batada, 48).

While Nick does address childhood obesity with its “Let’s Just Play” campaign and

character endorsement for fruits and vegetables, it also markets its characters as the faces

for fast-food goodie-bag toys, and as adornments in magazines, websites, live tours, and

on food products such as Pop-Tarts. In 2006, a study audited 28 hours of Nickelodeon

broadcasting, with the results being that food ads accounted for 26% of the total 28 hours

of Nick watching; of those 26% food ads, 88% were for foods of poor nutritional quality

(Batada, 49). Similar findings were published in relation to Nickelodeon’s contributions

for packaging in store products, meal combinations at restaurants, and magazine food

ads. Here one can see a typical example of food companies and institutions running

rampant with advertising due to the lack of marketing regulations for targeting children.

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Tables 1 and 2 following display quantitative data taken on the number and

content of advertisements for three popular children’s networks.

Table 1. Product Categories of Promotional Spots Aimed at Children

Source: Connor, Susan M. “Food-Related Advertising on Preschool Television: Building

Brand Recognition in Young Viewers.” Pediatrics 118 (2006): 1478-1485.

This table breaks down the content of advertisements shown on popular children’s

networks Disney, PBS and Nickelodeon in terms of the types of ads seen in a time-slot

for each channel. One can see that the number of fast food ads comprises 32% of the total

ad time, a significantly large amount.

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Table 2. Prevalence of Advertising in Preschool Programming on Each Network

Source: Connor, Susan M. “Food-Related Advertising on Preschool Television: Building

Brand Recognition in Young Viewers.” Pediatrics 118 (2006): 1478-1485.

This table details both the number and type of food advertisements aimed at

preschool-aged children from the three networks: Disney, PBS, and Nickelodeon. Instead

of investigating the content of the ads, it notes the proportion of ads that are for food and

which of those are specifically aimed towards children. One can see that the percentage

of food-related advertisements for Disney, PBS, and Nickelodeon was 35%, 60%, and

29%, respectively, with a significant number of each network’s food-related ads aimed

specifically at children (9, 23, and 44, respectively). The numbers speak for themselves.

How Food Marketing Influences Childhood Overweight and Obesity

So how does one draw the connection from food advertising in the media to the

major increase in overweight and obesity of the younger generation? For one, food

advertisements aired on popular adolescent channels seem to have a massive influence.

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TV-watching replaces activity time with sedentary lounging, decreases the time spent

eating meals with the family, leading to mindless snacking, and influences the thought

processes and desires of adolescents overall (Powell, 553). A conclusion can be drawn

between the facts that “food is the single largest product category advertised and often

makes up most of the TV ads directed to children,” and that “the items most frequently

purchased by children are sweets, snacks, and beverages” (Powell, 554). Children are

persuaded to eat foods made “just for them,” which gives kids what they are all looking

for – a sense of autonomy and adulthood (Nestle, 2528).

Marketers are especially adept at identifying parents as the gatekeepers to the real

goldmines – the children. The mutiny against adults is a common agenda used by

marketers that works by influencing kids to think of their parents as “fools and fuddy-

duddies who aren’t smart enough to realize their children’s need for the product being

sold” (De Graaf, 57). Encouraging this mutiny creates an environment where the parents’

ideals don’t matter, and loyalty shifts from the parents to the brand.

In addition to simply being shown in food advertisements, foods are often

presented in a fun-oriented way that make it seem as if eating the food in question is a fun

experience filled with laughter. These experiences are often endorsed with a favorite

character from shows or movies. Animation and the use of licensed characters is a tactic

used to encourage the idea of fun and carefree eating. Animation and licensed characters

are frequently used on the Disney and PBS channel advertisements – 50% and 55% of

advertisements, respectively (Connor, 1481). Occasionally, food is not even the main

focus of an advertiser’s campaign. Chuck E. Cheese and McDonald’s use the promise of

fun and the “inducements of free toys or the chance to play games” to build brand loyalty

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(Connor, 1481). With the emphasis on fun and games associated with junk food, it is easy

to see how children in America are influenced to make the types of food choices they are

making.

Several studies have been conducted on behalf of identifying the exact correlation

current media has to childhood overweight and obesity. There have been positive

relationships found between adiposity, or fatness, and amount of TV viewing, due to the

fact that more energy-dense foods and drinks are consumed with more TV viewing

(Dixon, 1319). Moreover, children exposed to embedded commercials in videos showed

more likelihood of selecting advertised food items in a supermarket rather than items at

random (Dixon, 1319). TV exposure has also been shown to increase children’s ideas that

other kids are eating junk food and consumption of the junk food itself (Dixon, 1319).

Food companies and marketers have created a culture of desire associated with fun and

rebelling against adults. This culture seamlessly directs children towards consumption of

unhealthy foods.

Individuals and Groups Combating the Epidemic

There are quite a few individuals and groups taking a stand against the growing

rates of adolescent overweight and obesity. Some are fighting the epidemic on a personal

basis via layperson blogs or websites, while others are pushing for political change.

Michelle Obama

First Lady Michelle Obama has taken a strong leadership role against childhood

and adolescent obesity and overweight. She launched the “Let’s Move” campaign in

February of 2010, intending it to encourage a healthy lifestyle by engaging schools,

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families, and communities in healthy habits. Obama has worked closely with the USDA

to “give more power to consumers” in the form of food labeling and personal nutrition

information (Wikipedia).

Fitness and activity is also a goal that is stressed by the campaign by providing

guidelines for schools and improving accessibility to activity (LetsMove.gov). The “Let’s

Move” campaign website is an interactive and easily navigable website that provides

helpful tips for each sector of the community so that they can do their part to combat and

prevent childhood health issues. See Figure 3 following.

Figure 3. A screencap of the Let’s Move Campaign website

Source: http://www.letsmove.gov

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This screen cap is a page from the “Let’s Move” campaign’s website. One can see

that each colored block provides a link to how different sectors of the population can

contribute to healthy habits. For example, school systems can “add healthy living to the

lesson plan” and individual chefs can “create healthy dishes to teach about food and

nutrition” (letsmove.gov). The website shies from dispensing catch-all health tips and

information – instead, it encourages, through interactive colors and links, active

participation from many types of individuals in our country.

Marion Nestle

Nestle, a premiere registered dietitian, runs a personal blog devoted to accurate

nutrition information and governmental regulation of ads aimed towards children. In her

article “Food Marketing and Childhood Obesity – A Matter of Policy,” she notes that

regulation of ad material for children is superior in other countries. Australia bans food

advertisements aimed at children younger than 14, and the Netherlands bans sugar

advertisements to those under the age of 12. Cartoon characters as mediums of

advertising for food products are banned in Sweden. Nestle notes that if the US adopted

some of these regulations, it would put a dent in the ever-increasing rate of childhood

obesity and overweight. The Federal Trade Commission, in 1984, deregulated children’s

television, which allowed TV shows and products to “be marketed together as a package”

(De Graaf et al, 57). This is a severe source of discontent among those who reprehend the

motives of food marketers.

The following table on page 16 details the levels of regulation on promotional

marketing to children. One can see that the absolute least regulation would be zero

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intervention, whereas the strictest regulations include local, national, international, and

private litigation concerning the restrictions on marketing of food products.

Table 3. Approaches to Protecting Children

Source: Harris, Jennifer L. et al. “A Crisis in the Marketplace: How Food Marketing

Contributes to Childhood Obesity and What Can Be Done.” Annual Review of Public

Health 30 (2009): 211-225.

The sentiment Nestle puts forth is supported by research on the issue – a case

model shows that decreasing TV food advertising to children to zero minutes per week

would decrease total consumption by 4.5%, which would translate to a weight of 2.1%

less for children (Veerman, 367). This means that potentially one in seven obese children

would not have been obese had they never been exposed to food advertising on TV. Of

course, zero minutes per week of advertisement is a highly idealistic goal. But some

organizations strive for just that, as we will see in the following section.

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Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood

The Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood is comprised of healthcare

professionals, educators, advocacy groups, parents, and individuals. It is a national

organization meant to promote the values of commercial-free TV-watching. It also

desires to bring to light problems with current political measures on advertisements

aimed towards adolescents.

“The commercialization of childhood is the link between many of the

most serious problems facing children, and society today. Childhood

obesity, eating disorders, youth violence, sexualization, family stress,

underage alcohol and tobacco use, rampant materialism, and the erosion of

children’s creative play, are all exacerbated by advertising and marketing”

(commercialfreechildhood.org).

One can see that CCFC is fairly radical in its views and measures against

advertising and marketing, but this blatant frustration is the result of many healthcare

professionals realizing the extent to which marketing has an effect on the impressionable

minds of children and adolescents.

Fit WIC

Women, Infants, and Children is a government-funded program that aims to

provide low-income families with food and nutritional awareness in order to raise healthy

children. Fit WIC was a USDA-funded project that lasted only three years and only

reached 5 states, but was intended to be a national model for evaluating childhood obesity

prevention strategies vital for low-income families that often present with overweight or

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obese family members. Fit WIC provides a model for WIC agencies to use to combat

obesity and overweight risk when approaching clients.

Conclusions

Childhood and adolescent overweight and obesity statistics continue to rise in the

United States. One cannot deny that some food companies’ primary goals are to earn

money, and it can be further argued that this moneymaking mindset comes with a health

implication for the younger generation of America. While the facts compiled in this paper

are dismal, an increase in awareness surrounding the effect current media quite obviously

has on childhood overweight and obesity has the power to turn these statistics around.

Individuals and organizations are working hard to broadcast the effects of nutritionally

poor food marketing. With any luck, marketers and food companies will soon encounter

barriers in their attempts to indoctrinate young viewers into a culture of unhealthy food.

TV, movie, and Internet marketing is surely not the only facet contributing to the

epidemic of overweight and obesity. However, eradicating or reducing the parts of our

society that serve to promote unhealthy behavior is a goal we should all be focusing on.