Results from a study conducted in 2005 regarding food advertisements targeted to kids were reported by WebMD this week. The study found that 91% of the food ads reviewed were targeted towards children were for unhealthy products. The study looked at over 27 hours of children’s programming on a Saturday morning and found that over 2 hours of it consisted of ads promoting high sugar, high fat, high salt or low nutrition foods. This seemed to be a consistent message among preschool audiences all the way up to pre-teens. As parents, our children rely on us to provide what’s best for them and provide a foundation for healthy eating, but I also believe in the “it takes a village” philosophy of what influences your children. Therefore, I feel it is important to reduce your child’s exposure to these misleading advertisements. My suggestion for keeping the sugary/salty/fatty food “I wants” at bay… limit your children’s television viewing and when they do watch TV make sure it’s either Noggin (no commercials) or children’s videos.
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Hi – Found you through your comment to Kristina on BabyCenter regarding slapping kids across the face. I completely, 100% agree with you. It’s just wrong. I don’t spank my kids for the arguments you mention. I am a writer at BabyCenter also, and was wondering I could link your site to something I’m doing on food and its affect on the body? My son has Tourettes, and we’ve minimized almost all of it through healthy eating and supplements – much of what you talk about here. It’s nice to personalize my columns with moms who walk the walk and talk the talk.