By Kara L. Rienzo
We have all seen the cereal aisle in our neighborhood grocery stores. Lots of bright, colorful boxes with different cartoon characters that are strategically placed at eye level for children. Turn on the television on a Saturday morning and it will quickly become clear that all of the commercials are geared towards kids, including ones for unhealthy foods and beverages. According to the Federal Trade Commission, the food and beverage industry spends nearly 2 billion dollars each year on marketing to children and adolescents on mostly unhealthy products.
In addition to television commercials, food and beverages are marketed to children in almost every environment that they might hang out, study, play, or eat. Basically, unless kids are sleeping they will be exposed to marketing specifically geared towards them, no matter where they are. But who is responsible for this? Food companies say it’s the parents’ job, but parents and health professionals alike agree that the food and beverage industry need to be held accountable for the marketing of low-nutrition foods to the youth of our nation and its association with the high incidence of poor diets and rising obesity rates.
The Institute of Medicine (IOM) found that television advertising has an influence on diets of children ages 2 to 11 and there is strong evidence linking exposure of television to body fat percentage in children and adolescents ages 2 to 18. Overall, the IOM concluded that aggressive marketing at youth is contributory to an unhealthy environment and poor diet. It is no secret that the rate of childhood obesity has increased over the last 30 years, where according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in 2010, one in three children and adolescents are considered overweight or obese.
What Parents Can Do:
• Limit “screen time” by limiting the amount of time kids spend sitting at the computer, watching TV, or playing video games.
• Limit buying food products and toys with marketing
• Learn about groups, such as the Prevention Institute or the Food Marketing Workgroup, that encourage companies to stop marketing low nutrition food to children
• Make your voice heard. It’s time for food and beverage companies to start being accountable for what they are marketing at our children. Their lives depend on it.
Check out the “We’re Not Buying It” video from the Prevention Institute for more information on their campaign to decrease the marketing of low nutrition foods and beverages to children and how you can get involved.
Kara L. Rienzo was an intern with Cornell Cooperative Extension of Suffolk County’s Family Health and Wellness Program during the Spring of 2014 and is currently a Dietetic Intern at Cedar Crest College in Allentown, PA. She grew up on Long Island and received her BS in Nutrition from LIU Post in May 2013.