Fwd: FW: [Food-news] Report TV Ads and Childhood Obesity

March 7, 2006

> --- On Fri 12/09, foodnews < foodnews >

> wrote:

> foodnews [ foodnews]

> food-news

> Fri, 09 Dec 2005 16:21:51 -0500

> [Food-news] Report Links TV Ads and

> Childhood Obesity

>

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> <b>Policy Gap and Confirmation: The

> emergence of child overweight and obesity as a

> pressing public health

> issue has brought the role of advertising back to

> the forefront of

> public debate in the United States for the first

> time since the late

> 1970s. At that time the US Federal Trade Commission

> (FTC) undertook an

> exhaustive review of scientific evidence and

> proposed a ban on

> children's advertising. The effort ultimately failed

> due to corporate

> lobbying and lack of political leadership. Now, on

> Dec. 6th, the

> prestigious Institute of Medicine of the US National

> Academies of

> Science released what it called the most

> comprehensive review of

> evidence on the issue of food marketing to children

> in 25 years. The

> report, " Food Marketing to Children and Youth:

> Threat or

> Opportunity? " , contains further damning evidence of

> the impact of junk

> food advertising, noting that the research

> overwhelming shows that food

> advertising influences children's dietary choices

> and that advertising

> to children has exploded over the last 25 years.

> However, in spite of

> the findings, which follow similar conclusions by

> the WHO and the UK

> Food Standards Agency in 2003 and the FTC back in

> 1981, the report

> falls short of recommending a ban on children's

> advertising. Instead,

> it asks for the food and beverage industry's

> cooperation in producing

> and promoting healthier products. However, if

> industry fails

> to cooperate within the next 2 years, the Committee

> recommends Congress

> enact legislation to require change. Will this

> report ultimately suffer

> the same fate as the work of the FTC a quarter

> century ago or will it

> serve as a tipping point for change? BC*</b>

> <div> </div>

> <div>Overview of the Report " Food Marketing to

> Children & Youth:

> Threat or Opportunity? " </div>

> <div><a

>

href= " http://www.iom.edu/Object.File/Master/31/337/0.pdf " >http://www.iom.edu/Obj\

ect.File/Master/31/337/0.pdf</a></div>

> <div> </div>

> <div>New York Times article " Report Links TV Ads and

> Childhood Obesity " </div>

> <div><a

>

href= " http://tinyurl.com/8okdk " >http://tinyurl.com/8okdk</a><br>

> <br>

> <div class= " timestamp " >December 6, 2005</div>

> <h1><nyt_headline version= " 1.0 " type= " " >

> Report Links TV Ads and Childhood Obesity

> </nyt_headline></h1>

> <nyt_byline version= " 1.0 " type= " " >

> </nyt_byline>

> <div class= " byline " >By <a

>

href= " http://query.nytimes.com/search/query?ppds=bylL & v1=MARIAN%20BURROS & fdq=199\

60101 & td=sysdate & sort=newest & ac=MARIAN%20BURROS & inline=nyt-per "

> title= " More Articles by Marian Burros " >MARIAN

> BURROS</a></div>

> <nyt_text></nyt_text>

> <div id= " articleBody " >

> <p> A federal advisory institution said today that

> there was compelling

> evidence linking television advertising and the rise

> of childhood <a

>

href= " http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/health/diseasesconditionsandhealthtopic\

s/obesity/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier "

> title= " Recent and archival health news about

> Obesity. " >obesity</a> in

> the United States.</p>

> <p> The comprehensive report, by the National

> Academies' Institute of

> Medicine, recommends a long-term campaign to educate

> the public about

> making healthy choices, using public and private

> funds.</p>

> <p> The private money would come from industries

> that the report says

> are responsible for the rising numbers of overweight

> and obese

> children. The report also says that if the food

> industry does not

> voluntarily shift the emphasis to healthy foods in

> its television

> advertising for children, and away from

> high-calorie, low-nutrient

> products, then Congress should compel it.</p>

> <p>Ellen Wartella, a member of the panel that

> conducted the study and

> the executive vice chancellor and provost of the

> University of

> California at Riverside, said the report, " Food

> Marketing to Children

> and Youth: Threat or Opportunity? " , had proven that

> food advertising,

> primarily on television, influences the diets,

> preferences and requests

> of children under 12.</p>

> <p> " We have not had that kind of information

> before, " Dr. Wartella said.</p>

> <p>Though the evidence does not prove beyond a doubt

> that children have

> been led into obesity by watching television food

> commercials directed

> at them, the report says, there is enough evidence

> to take action.</p>

> <p>Dr. Aimée Doerr, a member of the committee and

> the dean of the

> Graduate School of Education and Information Studies

> at the University

> of California, Los Angeles, said: " The committee

> believes the report

> is, quote, the nail in the coffin. That is

> sufficient. It is not the

> perfect golden spike, but it is definitely

> sufficient to take action

> and work in positive directions. " </p>

> <p>If the panel's recommendations were accepted by

> the food industry,

> cartoon characters might become more like SpongeBob

> SquarePants, who

> promotes carrots, yogurt and Pop Tarts, though

> SpongeBob would probably

> have to drop the Pop Tarts. High-sugar cereals with

> names of popular

> characters like Shrek might disappear entirely.</p>

> <p>The report acknowledges that marketing to

> children has gone far

> beyond television advertising to include, among

> other things, computers

> games and videos games that feature branded

> products, as well as

> product placement in movies and television programs,

> kids clubs and

> school-based marketing, like signs and exclusive

> contracts for soft

> drinks.</p>

> <p>The committee's recommendations are based on

> hundreds of studies

> that have been done on the connection between

> television advertising

> and overweight children. Such studies have not yet

> been done for these

> other forms of marketing, but the committee says its

> recommendations

> should apply to those other venues as well.</p>

> <p> Senator Tom Harkin, Democracy of Iowa, who

> requested the study,

> said: " The food industry doesn't spend $10 billion a

> year on ads to

> kids because they like to waste money. Their ads not

> only work, they

> work brilliantly. " </p>

> <p>The food industry did not question the validity

> of the report's

> findings. But both the Grocery Manufacturers of

> America and the

> American Advertising Federation complained that the

> report did not

> recognize the strides the food industry had made in

> responding to the

> obesity problem.</p>

> <p>Instead of focusing on decades of research, the

> Institute of

> Medicine should have looked at " the enormous changes

> in the last

> several years in the industry, " said Richard Martin,

> vice president of

> communications for the Grocery Manufacturers of

> America, which

> represents food, beverage and consumer products

> companies.</p>

> <p>Mr. Martin said he was not worried about a

> possible ban on

> advertising, because the industry had already

> responded voluntarily.

> " The environment has shifted dramatically because

> parents demand

> healthier foods, " he said.</p>

> <p>The American Advertising Federation said that a

> major underlying

> cause obesity was a lack of strenuous exercise, and

> it said the

> advertising industry was calling for more physical

> education in school.

> </p>

> </div>

> <br>

> *Brian Cook is a Contributing Editor to

> Foodnews.<br>

> </div>

> <br>

> <pre class= " moz-signature " cols= " 72 " >--

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