When Jackie Stanwood goes grocery shopping with her kids, things can get, well, "crazy," she said.
Her children, ages 2 and 4, beg for sugary cereal, fruit snacks and candy in the checkout aisle -- and absolutely anything with Cinderella or Dora the Explorer on it.
"They go bananas when they recognize a character," said Stanwood, of Wenham, Mass. "That's what I have a problem with."
But the problem isn't likely to get any better for Stanwood and parents like her. Not only are kids awash in TV food advertising, the online world is just as bad, a new report shows.
The Kaiser Family Foundation's report "It's Child's Play: Advergaming and the Online Marketing of Food to Children," released today, found 85 percent of top food brands that advertise to kids on television also use corporate Web sites that market to kids online.
The study analyzed 77 sites, which, citing Nielsen NetRatings, the report's authors said were visited 12.2 million times by children ages 2 to 11 in the second quarter of 2005. These Web sites allow children to spend more time engaged with the advertised food brand. Half of the sites have the product's television commercials available for viewing. "Advergames" -- online games featuring a product or brand character -- were also found on 73 percent of the Web sites.
"Technology simply brings new ways of making children consumers -- of nutrient poor, calorie-dense foods," said Kelly Brownell, director of the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at Yale University. "Parents cannot compete."
But not all the news was bad: Some company Web sites provide nutritional information or exercise tips. About 27 percent feature information on eating a healthy diet, the report shows.
"Kellogg has a long-standing heritage in teaching both children and their parents how to maintain a healthy, balanced diet and lifestyle," said Kellogg spokesperson Kris Charles.
Nutritionists and doctors hope that this study will encourage more research on the effects of Internet food advertisements, and promote regulation of these child-oriented Web sites.
