How savvy are you about food marketing to children? Ask yourself these True or False statements:

• Food and beverage marketing strongly influences what children ask their families to buy.
• The most heavily marketed foods and beverages to children are unhealthful.
• Food marketing practices could be used to promote healthy foods.

If you answered true to these statements, consider yourself knowledgeable about food and beverage marketing to children.

Food and beverage companies use marketing techniques to influence the purchase of specific products, and this impacts the health status of children. Knowing why these techniques are effective can help teachers in early care and education programs as they work with children to make healthful food choices.

Advertisers take advantage of changing technologies and the vulnerability of children to disseminate their messages. Over the years, approaches have changed from simple written or recorded information about a product to increasingly sophisticated methods, such as inserting product names and logos into television shows, on Internet websites, and over cell phones.

Many food and beverage companies work hand-in-hand with toy manufacturers, fast food restaurants, the media, and retail outlets so that messages about their products are constant. One of the most familiar marketing strategies is the use of commercials aimed directly at children watching particular television shows.

Currently, most advertised products are high in calories (from fat and sugars) and low in nutrients (carbonated soft drinks, fruit drinks, and candy). However, the Institutes of Medicine and other entities are encouraging food manufacturers to change the products advertised to be more healthful.

The latest channels for advertising involve digital technologies, such as cell phones and personal computers, which play significant roles in children’s social life and provide easy access to children. In fact, food and beverage companies were among the earliest users of digital marketing to link their products with online technologies. Some Internet games and websites promote unhealthful foods by giving these products as freebies when the child wins the game or answers certain questions.

Another manipulative advertising strategy is the use of “branding.” The logos and names of food and beverage products are strategically placed on clothes, toys, backpacks, lunch bags, and Internet sites as well as over text messages on cell phones, in movies, and on television shows to “engage” consumers. This strategy often uses specific characters from the latest movies, television shows, and books to further appeal to kids.

Such engagement fosters unconscious, non rationale processes rather than employing reasoned decision-making. The consumer begins to neurologically combine the ad’s message with symbols and associations within their brain to make these brands personally relevant.

This is a seductive process, often relying on the characters or celebrities to help make the links. Children are especially vulnerable. A young child cannot dissociate reality from fantasy, and may believe every word that their favorite “friend” tells them. Even when old enough to distinguish reality, a child is easily influenced by peers to become part of the crowd.

In 2002, children ages 4-12 years spent $30 billion on direct purchases and indirectly influenced unknown amounts for purchases they asked their families to make. Of all their personal purchases, one-third was spent on sweets, unhealthful snacks, and sweetened beverages.

Given the increasing rise in the rates of overweight children, many public health officials believe that the marketing practices of the food, beverage, and restaurant industries have negatively influenced food preferences of young children (Institutes of Medicine). These advertised foods and beverages, in part, have contributed to the rise in overweight.

Children have increased spending power and independence, so the food industry has designed specific food products with children in mind. Between 1994 and 2004, almost 4,000 new foods and 500 new beverages were created. Most of these were high in calories, sugar, or fat, and low in nutrients.

There are several actions caregivers and teachers can take to assist young children to recognize healthful choices from unhealthful ones.

Take an inventory of your facility. Check out the games, magazines, videos, and computer learning programs to determine what, if any, marketing materials are in your facility. If possible, purchase marketing-free alternatives.

If not, cover any logos and pictures that depict unhealthy foods with pictures of healthful ones, such as fruits, vegetables, and milk products. Since it is difficult to ignore marketing materials, use characters that provide positive food messages.

Know the challenge--watch what the children watch at home. Videotape both the children’s shows and the accompanying commercials from a variety of stations (commercial, public, and children’s network).

Analyze what you see: do the advertised products appear in the show? Go beyond children’s shows and become aware of what is on daytime soap operas and other shows that children might be viewing with adult family members.

Talk with children about the difference between reality and fantasy. Young children need to know concrete information about a situation when making a decision if something is real or not. The ability to distinguish real from unreal develops during the preschool years, especially when adults assist them.

This does not mean that young children do not “believe” in a talking dog, for example. It just means they might know he is not real. Consider talking to children about their favorite fantasy character. Does that character really eat? If they could eat, what foods would make them healthy? Would eating only the food that is being advertised (healthy or unhealthy) be a good thing or is it better to eat lots of different foods?

Help children make posters, videos, and other advertisements for healthful foods. This is a small step in balancing the information about products. Teaching children how media is created will enhance their ability to think critically about what is being said, the purpose of the advertisement, and the impact advertising has on them.

Decrease children’s exposure to unhealthful food branding. Check out your utensils, clothes, and food containers. Remember, many characters give positive eating messages. However, if you notice a television, movie, or book character promoting unhealthful foods, try to remove the item from the child’s view.

Madeleine Sigman-Grant, PhD, RD
Professor and Area Extension Specialist

Institute of Medicine, 500 Fifth St. NW, Washington DC 20001; 202-334-2352; www.iom.edu/?id=26411

Center on Media and Child Health, www.cmch.tv/mentors_parents/overweight_advertising.asp

Center for Science in the Public Interest, www.cspinet.org/marketingguidelines.pdf

Federal Trade Commission, www.ftc.gov/opa/2006/05/childhoodobesity.shtm

National Health Policy Forum,
www.nhpf.org/pdfs_ib/IB814_FoodMarketing_08-15-06.pdf

New England Journal of Medicine, content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/354/24/2527