Food is the most widespread product emerging in television adverts that are directed at American children and teenagers. According to the research conducted by a Kaiser Family Foundation, many of those advertisements are for junk food. The study was released last Thursday.
In this research, the largest ever to analyze television food marketing to young people, the scientists examined over 1 600 hours of US television programming broadcast in 2005, the Washington Post informed.
Children between the age of 8 and 12 watch the most food adverts, an average of 21 a day. That adds up to 7 600 food commercials (nearly 51 hours worth) a year, according to the research. Teenagers between the age of 13 and 17, see an average of seventeen food adverts a day (over 6 000 per year), and children from 2 to 7 years old see twelve food ads per day (4 400 a year).
No fruit or vegetables commercials
The investigators also discovered that 34 per cent of television commercials directed at children and teenagers were for candy and snacks, 28 per cent were for cereal, 10 per cent for fast foods, and 4 per cent for dairy products. There were no advertisements for fruit or vegetables, the Post informed.
After food, the most frequently advertised products in television (in adverts directed at children and teenagers) were music, video games and movies.
"The research is really relevant. It’s the first time in over a decade that anybody has inspected television advertising directed at kids. And this is the first time that anyone has analyzed such a huge sample of ads," Margo Wootan, director of nutrition for the Centre for Science in the Public Interest, a consumer advocacy group, told the Post.
