The food industry spends upwards of $10 billion annually targeting children. Tried and true methods, such as Happy Meals with toys or cereal with prizes, cartoon and/or movie characters are constantly being promoted. Did you ever notice how little effort is paid towards promoting the actual product/food item? And if the focus is on the food, it is because it has cool shapes or loaded with harmful food coloring to make your kid's yogurt green.
Advertisers focus on marketing to children for a variety of reasons. First, they influence purchasing decisions today, mainly through nagging and temper tantrums. There is also a long-term component to this strategy, brand building and customer loyalty. One day, these children will be buying for themselves, and eventually, their own kids. Children see, on average, 15 food-based commercials daily, according to KFF.org. Consider that over an entire childhood, the amount of advertisements will total in the tens of thousands, assuming the aforementioned averages.
I looked at some processed-food packaging in the grocery store this morning in anticipation of writing this article. The first thing you notice when you look at any food product packaging, targeted to children or not, is that the marketing claims and labels are on the front of the package and substantially larger than the actual ingredients, which are never on the front, but on the side, back, or bottom.
Furthermore, with respect to marketing to children, the size of the cartoon character or "brand ambassador") often takes up the entire front portion of the package, dwarfing any pictures of the actual food product. Let's also not forget all of the tomfoolery that goes into creating the food pictures. Did you ever notice that your bowl of cereal never looks as good as the one on the box? It's because they don't use milk, but glue.
Children are easily influenced by a wide variety of things, including advertising. Did you ever see how glued they are to the TV? When they are in this state, their brains are usually in the alpha state, which is the same frequency hypnotists use to plant suggestions in your mind when someone wants to quit smoking or lose weight. So not only are these kids being influenced many times a day, but they are in highly susceptible states, which allows the message to sink right in. I believe the responsibility of a child's health rests with his or her parents, however, these practices need to be exposed.
What steps can you take? First, shopping at stores with healthier products like Wild By Nature, Trader Joe's, or Whole Foods can often eliminate the worst of the food choices, so your child doesn't even have the option of poor nutrition. It is also important to understand what they're watching on TV. You can choose advertisement-free programs or stations or focus only on stations that have rules about advertising to children. Finally, it makes sense to talk to your child about proper nutrition and the importance of avoiding processed foods and dangerous chemicals in the food supply. With up to 20 advertisements a day reaching your child, you can never talk to them too much about healthy food.
Advertisers focus on marketing to children for a variety of reasons. First, they influence purchasing decisions today, mainly through nagging and temper tantrums. There is also a long-term component to this strategy, brand building and customer loyalty. One day, these children will be buying for themselves, and eventually, their own kids. Children see, on average, 15 food-based commercials daily, according to KFF.org. Consider that over an entire childhood, the amount of advertisements will total in the tens of thousands, assuming the aforementioned averages.
I looked at some processed-food packaging in the grocery store this morning in anticipation of writing this article. The first thing you notice when you look at any food product packaging, targeted to children or not, is that the marketing claims and labels are on the front of the package and substantially larger than the actual ingredients, which are never on the front, but on the side, back, or bottom.
Furthermore, with respect to marketing to children, the size of the cartoon character or "brand ambassador") often takes up the entire front portion of the package, dwarfing any pictures of the actual food product. Let's also not forget all of the tomfoolery that goes into creating the food pictures. Did you ever notice that your bowl of cereal never looks as good as the one on the box? It's because they don't use milk, but glue.
Children are easily influenced by a wide variety of things, including advertising. Did you ever see how glued they are to the TV? When they are in this state, their brains are usually in the alpha state, which is the same frequency hypnotists use to plant suggestions in your mind when someone wants to quit smoking or lose weight. So not only are these kids being influenced many times a day, but they are in highly susceptible states, which allows the message to sink right in. I believe the responsibility of a child's health rests with his or her parents, however, these practices need to be exposed.
What steps can you take? First, shopping at stores with healthier products like Wild By Nature, Trader Joe's, or Whole Foods can often eliminate the worst of the food choices, so your child doesn't even have the option of poor nutrition. It is also important to understand what they're watching on TV. You can choose advertisement-free programs or stations or focus only on stations that have rules about advertising to children. Finally, it makes sense to talk to your child about proper nutrition and the importance of avoiding processed foods and dangerous chemicals in the food supply. With up to 20 advertisements a day reaching your child, you can never talk to them too much about healthy food.
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Please see my website for more information at food labels or my blog at dangerous food additives
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