Introduction
Motivation for the study
The controversial topic relates to unhealthy populations worldwide, each citing different factors that lead to this; however, a healthy adult requires nutrients from childhood transitioning to youth as this is tracked to adulthood. When unhealthy eating develops early in life, a country has an unhealthy population. With this in mind, American youth currently consume around 50% of calories from manufactured sugars and fats; with this consumption rate, 15% are overweight. 60% of these youth have a history of cardiovascular risk factors (Robinson et al., 2017). The growing concern about raising healthy children who do not influence their eating behaviour and food preferences.
Criticism of the food advertisement of food which promotes unhealthy diets among youth and children. Marketers and advertisers have targeted this population as it is easily swayed and influenced, with the additional benefit of being the highest customer base. Rigorous research has shown that advertisements are the highest risk factor for unhealthy eating behaviour, threatening the future of a healthy United States (Story & French, 2004). Thus this discourse aims to analyze different advertisements on junk food for children and youths and their implications. The analysis will allow us to recommend healthy eating for well-being. Through reviewing of literature offered in the five articles that focus on the paper, an understanding of the challenges of advertising and guide in creating a healthy nation.
Key terms
Television exposure, obesity, cardiometabolic risk. Television food advertisements
Background
Essentially, a child’s well-being is attributed to their diet and nutrients, which helps them resist chronic diseases. However, the rate of calories-dense and poor nutrients consumed by children and youths has become a significant concern to public health experts, terming it a pernicious environmental influence that has translated into an epidemic. The primary factor is television exposure and advertisement of junk foods targeting children and youths (Dixon et al., 2007). A recent study showed that during children’s programs, one out of three advertisements are food related, with 81% being unhealthy food foods, which in turn have reflected the patterns in the children’s preferences, choices, and beliefs toward eating behaviour.
The growing interest by the food companies in this market is because its spending is highest in all population groups; US youths spend an estimated $140 billion annually, while children below 12 years spend $25 billion, but influence another $ 200 billion annually. Thus the market share is significant and competitive. Thus advertisers are aggressive in capturing this market. According to social cognitive theory, the immediate social environment the child is in and the media their behaviour are influenced and learned. Thus their preference in choice of food will be influenced (Story & French, 2004). The United States consumer expenditure is 12.5% on food, and the advertisers spend $7.3 billion on food advertisement alone. This makes it possible for advertisers and other stakeholders to change the rooming epidemic of unhealthy diets.
Method
Through visiting several databases related to the topic, such as AAP publications, International Journals of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activities, Science Direct, and PubMed, several articles were selected by searching various keywords related to the topic, such as “television advertisement effect on eating, “causes of childhood obesity.” The inclusion criteria involved articled television exposure and its effect on eating behaviour, children obesity caused by too much television time, with exclusion being the publishing date below 2003
Dixon and colleagues were the first journals identified as they aimed to understand how persuasive advertisement on children affected their food attitudes and beliefs. The study sort to collect evidence-based data; thus, they used a cross-sectional survey that used a randomized controlled trial on a sample of 919 fifth and sixth graders from Melbourne (Dixon et al., 2007). Dixon and team formulated six baseline hypotheses to guide their study using a pre-set survey design to analyze how exposure to TV ads affected food behaviour, beliefs, and attitude; after this test, they used pre-test-test control-experiment advertisement analysis was done through the statistical tool ANOVA. The hypothesis to be examined followed exposure positively correlated to (a1), pro-junk attitude and beliefs (a2), additionally, (b1) hypothesized exposure to junk food and more assertive attitude, (b2) hypothesized children exposed to junk will show preference to healthy eating. (b3) allocated children who are exposed to junk food ads will have a stronger preference for healthy food, (b4) Health ads will promote healthy eating
The second selected article was a study by Hanks and the team, who sort to measure how exposure to vegetables in elementary children affected their healthy food choice. Using multiple intervention design and selecting ten elementary schools, a sample of 22206 children were tested in a pre-test and post-research-tests following a randomized control conditioned experiment to assess how many children would choose a salad that displayed a cartoon character in the school cafeteria after pre-intervention advertisements and teaching and analysis done though statistical methods (Hanks et al., 2016).
Third to be selected was Andreyeva and colleagues, whose study added value to existing research and provided novel comprehensive data on food advertisements’ impacts on children and their body weight. Using the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Kindergarten Cohort (ECLS-K) database to conduct a cross-sectional survey and choose 55 consumer products that advertise to children. Using statistical analysis, the relationship was determined.
Robinson and colleagues harmonized various evidenced studies on-screen exposure and childhood obesity in children and youths. Additionally, they sort to analyze how screen media can promote healthy eating behaviours. They analyzed several tests that have been done previously to assess the moderators and mediators of mechanisms for media to promote healthy eating habits (Robinson et al., 2017). Employing examples of tests, one conducted using a seven-month randomized control trial on two schools, one receiving 18 lessons of multi-component screen time reduction curriculum intervention while the other received no intervention. The progress in their physical activities was analyzed using accelerometry, assessing the cause and effect of the intervention. Other surveys involved laboratory tests that have been conducted showing the relationship between screen time and obesity in children.
Finally, the Story and French study was selected as its aim was to assess the various channels used to advertise food products to children and youths. This study was significant as it lets one understand the different channels used and how each affects their eating habits and food choices. They analyzed channels such as kid’s clubs, in-school, television, product placement, internet, and toys. They reviewed several experimental designs, mainly randomized study designs. However, others, like direct observations and surveys, were used. Additionally, Story and French reviewed the different policies and regulations employed to monitor how advertiser market their product to children and youths (Story & French, 2004). Regulatory bodies like Children’s Advertising Review Unit(CARU) and Federal Communications Commission (FCC)
Results
Dixon and associates found that cumulative exposure to television and food advertisements creates an attitude and belief about junk food. Consumption was found to be proportional to the viewing of television (Dixon et al., 2007). The result showed that 34% of the student were obese in the sample of 858 cohorts. Of these, only one-third watch television for 1-2 hours daily. Varying advertisement exposure was attributed to students having healthy food preferences.
Hanks and colleagues showed that 90.5% more students preferred the vegetable from the salad bar when labelled with an animated banner, and another 239.2% visited the salad bar when exposed to educative television lessons about healthy eating. Gender did not vary in this experiment.
According to Andreyeva and associates, exposure and consumption varied, with fast food/snacks having a mean average of 0.46/0.75 daily and low-income children having a higher mean average of 0.7/1.1. at the same time, the soft drink / fast food preferences are 0.91/1.11. exposure increased the consumption level of fast foods by 1.1%, and soft drinks showed the highest 9.4% increase.
Longitudinal studies by Robinson and associates showed that 10-15 years olds in the United States had a high number of hours exposed to television and were overweight, and 60% for year olds were overweight to hours exposed to television (Robinson et al., 2017). Long-term studies revealed that longer exposure time as a child translates to obesity in adulthood. Additionally, Robinson and associates suggest that the effect of being overweight is clinically associated with cardiometabolic risks such as insulin resistance, hypertension, and metabolic syndrome.
Story and French found that advertising companies’ main aim is to create awareness of their brand and develop loyalty, with children and youths easily influenced by social networks and social groups; thus, they are the easiest target for these brands that market products with high sugars and fats. Further studies showed that regulations were non-effective when it came to big companies that rigorously advertise unhealthy food products to children and youths.
Discussion
The five articles evidenced the relationship between television advertisements, exposure rate, and the choice and preferences for unhealthy choices; However, they employed different designs and approaches to the topic, and the results clearly showed the worrying impacts. However, one article by Hanks and associates showed how advertisements could be used to promote healthy eating habits among children and youths. The article showed a 90.5% increase in choosing healthy food by elementary school children (Hanks et al., 2016). Other articles, such as Robinson and associates, supported the concept by showing how television educative lessons positively affected children’s choices and eating behaviours. Thus these advertisements can be used to promote healthy eating behaviour.
The advertising industry has been viewing children and youths as their most prominent market, which has exposed them to unprecedented advertising and commercialization in various channels which resemble the ones used by tobacco, such as free promotions and community development programs, creating a positive image towards their brands (Story & French, 2004). This and other factors have been the influencing factors to unhealthy food choices. Dixon and colleagues (a1 and a2) show how the advertisements were associated with junk food choices.
Gaps in the study
The studies all followed the same narrative of the advertising companies. However, they did not show how other stakeholders were liable for the influence. Currently, the United States has the highest number of children and youth who dine away from home as the parent are busy with work, which is also a cause for unhealthy eating habits (Andreyeva et al., 2011). The research creates gaps as they explore one side. The studies also used different designs, and the number of cohorts used differed, creating an additional gap as they showed different outcomes to the impacts of advertisements on food choices.
Future work needed in the field
Through the abovementioned gaps, rigorous future research is needed to have conclusive evidence on all aspects leading to unhealthy eating habits and food choices. Understanding how positive media advertisement has influenced and taking into account how the stringent laws play a part in minimizing unhealthy habits or if they have any impacts on the topic. Additionally, there is a need to understand how each media affect children’s and youths’ eating habits while still assessing the relationship between screen time and physical activity.
Conclusion
The discourse aimed to analyze the impacts of advertisements and television exposure on children and youths’ food consumption behaviours, attitudes, and beliefs. The study analyzed five selected articles containing relevant topics towards the paper’s objective. The articles showed that exposure to television and advertisements targeting children and youths has diverse positive and negative findings (Robinson et al., 2017). Hanks and associates showed how positive advertisements affected eating behaviour positively, while the others showed how negative advertisements and exposure affected the growing population and thus affected the nation’s adulthood and productivity.
From these findings, profound implications arise; thus, further studies are needed before a conclusive intervention plan exists. Epidemiological studies are further needed to examine conclusively if food advertisement is a causal factor or otherwise. Additionally, it is ethical to examine how individual stakeholders impact this epidemic, stakeholders such as teachers and parents.
The evidence provided here raises several recommendations towards mitigating the vice, suggesting that all stakeholders, parents, teachers, advertising companies, and governments have obligations towards mitigating unhealthy food habits. Each one has a role to play individually and collectively to regulate, limit and change the impacts of exposure to create a healthy and productive generation (Andreyeva et al., 2011). Government has to use evidence-based critical thinking intervention to formulate policies beneficial to both the population and advertisement companies. Advertisement companies have an ethical obligation to create awareness of the dangers of unhealthy eating practices. Finally, scholars should rigorously research all areas where gaps arise to generate a last solution to this epidemic.
References
Andreyeva, T., Kelly, I. R., & Harris, J. L. (2011). Exposure to food advertising on television: Associations with Children’s fast food and soft drink consumption and obesity. Economics & Human Biology, 9(3), 221–233. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ehb.2011.02.004
Dixon, H. G., Scully, M. L., Wakefield, M. A., White, V. M., & Crawford, D. A. (2007). Television advertisements for junk food versus nutritious food affect children’s food attitudes and preferences. Social Science & Medicine, 65(7), 1311–1323. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2007.05.011
Hanks, A. S., Just, D. R., & Brumberg, A. (2016). Marketing vegetables in elementary school cafeterias to increase uptake. Pediatrics, 138(2). https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2015-1720
Robinson, T. N., Banda, J. A., Hale, L., Lu, A. S., Fleming-Milici, F., Calvert, S. L., & Wartella, E. (2017). Screen Media Exposure and Obesity in Children and Adolescents. Pediatrics, 140(Supplement_2). https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2016-1758k
Story, M., & French, S. (2004). International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, 1(1), 3. https://doi.org/10.1186/1479-5868-1-3
write