Ronald McDonald Fallout: What Role Does Advertising Have in Childhood Obesity?

April 7, 2010 — -- Childhood obesity has more than tripled in the past 30 years. Obesity in children 6 to 11 has gone from 6.5 percent in 1980 to almost 20 percent in 2008. Parents are frantic, health professionals are alarmed and activists are up in arms.

Legislators are calling for a tax on soft drinks; some states are making it a requirement for restaurants to post calories on their menus. A few weeks ago Pepsi and others voluntarily pulled sugar-laden soft drinks from schools and the advocacy group Corporate Accountability International last week targeted the venerable spokes-clown for McDonald's, Ronald McDonald, saying for nearly 50 years he has hooked kids on unhealthy food, spurring an epidemic of diet-related diseases.

What role has advertising played in the disturbing obesity epidemic facing American kids and are marketers being responsible in their advertising practices?

Most experts agree there is no single reason the youth of America are increasingly overweight. Lack of exercise, an increase in the availability of snacks and soft drinks in school, the growing number of fast food outlets in the country, the trend to larger portion sizes and the dramatic increase in the amount of time kids spend with media -- all play a part. The average kid spends 5 1/2 hours a day consuming media -- more time than kids spend doing anything else except sleeping.

A byproduct of all of that time in front of the TV is that the average child sees 40,000 TV commercials a year. Research has shown that a two- or three-year-old already knows the McDonald's logo, and a study conducted by Stanford doctors showed that children believed a number of foods, including milk and carrots, tasted better, by a significant margin when served in McDonald's packaging.