Have You Seen What Your Kids Will Want to Be Eating?

I’m a newspaper and magazine junkie. I’ve cut back, but I still subscribe to more than I can realistically read, especially in the summer when the boys are underfoot. So when an article about food ads targeting kids  caught my eye recently, it wasn’t a huge surprise that the paper in question arrived last week … sigh. The story ran in the Post, but was written by Jessie Schiewe of the Los Angeles Times, and cited a study by the University of Illinois at Chicago that analyzed trends in advertising aimed at kids.

Researchers used Nielsen ratings from 2003, 2005 and 2007 to compare what products showed up most often in ads on kids’ shows. Turns out that the foods featured in ads are less sugary but more fatty – cereals, candy bars, soda and cookies have been replaced by fast food, diet soda and bottled water.

A few months ago I was in contact via e-mail with Melissa Halas-Liang of Super Kids Nutrition about her organization’s efforts to promote healthy food choices and nutrition education.  I was curious about how programs like Super Kids and also consultants like Joanne Ikeda , who works with Nickelodeon, have affected network ads aimed at kids. “I know Joanne has made an impact even from recently watching a couple hours of cartoon programming to check,” Halas-Liang said.

This data backs up her anecdotal observations that sugary foods are receding from the airwaves. But is the uptick in fast-food ads an unintended consequence? I’ve e-mailed again in light of this study to ask what her take is on the fast food upsurge, and I’ll let you know what she responds.

It’s also worth noting that ads for unhealthy foods are increasingly targeted by ethnicity and race, with African-American kids seeing more of them than other groups. The researchers are planning to track ads from 2009 too, to find out whether these trends are still in effect.  Stay tuned …

By Amy De La Hunt, Health Blogger for SmartParenting