TV Ads Contribute to Childhood Obesity, Economists Say

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TV Ads Contribute to Childhood Obesity, Economists Say

November 21, 2008

Seattle - According to a new study, television advertisements affect

childhood obesity. Thus, many people are calling for fast food

advertisements to be banned from being run during children's

television programs.

Experts and parents alike hope that this will help reduce the number

of obese and overweight children currently in the United States by as

much as 18 percent. Additionally, many believe that the number of

obese or overweight teens will decline by as much as 14 percent.

The study, which ran in the November issue of The Journal of Law and

Economics, focuses on researchers who used statistical models to show

the links between obesity rates and the time spent viewing fast food

advertising.

The study found that the more fast food advertisements that were run,

the more at risk children were of obesity, especially if the

advertisements were run during children-focused television programs.

Researches balk at claims that the study is flawed because overweight

kids spend more time in front of the television.

In fact, Grossman, professor of economics at City University

of New York said, " There is not a lot of evidence that overweight

kids are more likely to watch TV than other kids. We're arguing the

causality is how many messages are aired — seeing more of these

messages is leading people to put on weight. "

Shin-Yi Chou, an economist at Lehigh College, and Inas Rashad, an

economist at Georgia State University, served as the study's co-

authors.

However, some critics have pointed out that a lot of the data used in

the study is old and comes from the late 1990s. Since then, a number

of fast food chains like Mc's and Burger King have signed the

Council of Better Businesses Bureaus's Children's Food and Beverage

Advertising Initiative, which promises to advertise healthier

products to children below the age of 12.

" I can't help think that two huge chains advertising apples and milk

to kids is going to be affecting children's preferences, " said Elaine

Kolish, a spokesman for the Council of Better Business Bureaus.

Though people are calling for the banning of fast food

advertisements, but only three countries, to date, have taken this

step: Sweden, Norway, and Finland. These countries have banned

commercial sponsorship of children's programs, and many experts

believe this will be hard to do in the United States because

commercial sponsorship is a major part of how television networks

conduct business.

Instead of banning such advertisements from airing during children

focused programming, some people are suggesting that a different

route be taken. For example, some researchers have suggested

eliminating federal tax deductions that businesses use when it comes

to advertisement. This, researchers suggest, would cut down on the

number of advertisements and would in turn cut down childhood obesity

by as much as 7 percent.

The study is being published this month in the Journal of Law &

Economics.