O.T. - Report: TV ads contribute to child obesity

Report: TV ads contribute to child obesity


Scientists urge marketers to stop targeting junk food commercials to
kids


The Associated Press
Updated: 7:09 p.m. ET Dec. 6, 2005


WASHINGTON - SpongeBob SquarePants, Shrek and other characters kids
love should promote only healthy food, a panel of scientists
recommended.

In a report released Tuesday, the Institute of Medicine said television
advertising strongly influences what children under 12 eat.





The report said the food industry should spend its marketing dollars on
nutritious food and drinks. That means SpongeBob, the popular animated
star of the Nickelodeon cable TV network, and other characters should
endorse only good-for-you food, the panel concluded.





"The foods advertised are predominantly high in calories and low in
nutrition - the sort of diet that puts children's long-term health
at risk," said J. Michael McGinnis, a senior scholar at the institute
and chairman of the report committee.





The report said evidence is limited on whether TV advertising leads to
obesity in children. A study hasn't been done that would demonstrate
a direct cause and effect.





Still, the panel found the evidence compelling enough to call for a
concerted effort to change the nature of foods being marketed to
children, said panel member Ellen A. Wartella, psychology professor at
the University of California, Riverside.





The growth in new food products targeted to kids has been huge, from 52
introduced in 1994 to nearly 500 introduced last year, the report said.





"Overwhelmingly, those foods are high-calorie, low-nutrient foods,
not the kind of foods that are recommended for children to eat,"
Wartella said.





The findings were no surprise to Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin, who requested
the report.





"We like to think that SpongeBob SquarePants and Shrek and the pretty
little princesses are likable, kid-friendly characters, but they're
being used to manipulate vulnerable children to make unhealthy
choices," said Harkin, the senior Democrat on the Senate Agriculture,
Nutrition and Forestry Committee.





"The industry must stop pushing junk food on our kids," Harkin
said.





'A long way to go'




Nickelodeon in October announced a campaign aimed at persuading kids to
eat healthy foods and to get up off the couch and move. The campaign
features former President Clinton, SpongeBob SquarePants and Dora the
Explorer.





Among children and adolescents from ages 6 through 19, obesity rates
have tripled over the past 40 years. Obesity increases the risks of
type 2 diabetes and many other diseases and health conditions.





In adults, a person who is obese has a Body Mass Index, or BMI, of 30
or more. Children are defined as obese according to a formula placing
their BMI at or above the 95th percentile on government charts
specifying age and gender. BMI shows body weight adjusted for height.






An advertising industry spokesman called the findings frustrating,
because many companies have been reformulating products to make them
healthier or reporting calorie and fat content on menu boards or
packaging.





"There's a long way to go, but the industry is responding, and it
doesn't seem like there's any recognition of that in this
report," said Wally Snyder, president and CEO of the American
Advertising Federation.





"Lack of physical activity is a major problem here on childhood
obesity. And, in fact, the industry is heavily involved in special
programs to educate parents and children about the need for good
nutrition and physical activity," Snyder said.





The panel assessed hundreds of studies, then reviewed evidence from 123
of them and completed the most comprehensive review to date on the
scientific evidence of how food marketing affects kids' diets.





Mandate from Congress?




While the research focused on TV advertising, the panel noted
advertising is one facet of a marketing environment vastly different
from the 1970s. It now includes Internet games, cartoon character
endorsements, coupons and store events, product placement in
supermarkets and organized word-of-mouth campaigns.





Advertising accounts for about one-quarter of what companies spend on
marketing, the report said.





Besides telling food and beverage companies to promote healthier food,
the panel urged the industry to create standards that enforce healthy
diets for kids. The panel also encouraged the media and entertainment
industry, the government and school authorities to campaign for healthy
diets for kids.





The panel said the government should use tax breaks and other
incentives to encourage the shift away from junk food and said if it
doesn't happen,

Congress should mandate it.





An arm of the National Academy of Sciences, the Institute of Medicine
is congressionally chartered to advise the government on medical
issues.



© 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may
not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

© 2006 MSNBC.com





URL: http://msnbc.msn.com/id/10346448/

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