Group Says Ads to Kids Sell Poor Health

Dec. 4, 2006 — -- The nation's pediatricians are the latest group to weigh in on the harmful effects of marketing to kids.

With young people viewing an estimated 40,000 ads a year, the American Academy of Pediatrics is alarmed that such exposure may contribute significantly to obesity, poor health and drug use.

The AAP is calling for stricter guidelines on child-targeted advertising -- a move the group believes will help curtail obesity, and cigarette and alcohol use among America's youth.

Commercialism in the classroom was a focus of AAP's policy statement "Children, Adolescents and Advertising," published in today's issue of the journal Pediatrics.

"Advertisers have slowly but steadily infiltrated school systems around the country. The '3 Rs' have now become the '4 Rs,' with the fourth R being retail," the statement read.

The AAP recommends that pediatricians work with parents, schools, community groups and others to ban or severely limit school-based advertising in all forms.

Other recommendations include a ban on cigarette and tobacco ads in all media, including banners and logos in sports arenas. The statement also targets drug makers who advertise erectile dysfunction drugs on daytime and primetime TV. The AAP recommends that advertisers confine ads for erectile dysfunction drugs to after 10 p.m, and suggests these ads may confuse children and teens about human sexuality and make sexual activity seem like a "recreational sport."

With childhood obesity soaring, the Academy wants Congress to implement a ban on "junk food" advertising during programming that is viewed predominantly by young children.

Perhaps no other topic related to the fight against childhood obesity has received more attention lately than the influence of food advertising.

The Institute of Medicine, an arm of the National Academy of Sciences, has gone on record saying that food advertising to children may be linked to widening waistlines (Check out the statement: Food Marketing to Children and Youth: Threat or Opportunity).

The IOM report was the first major analysis of scientific evidence demonstrating that food and beverage ads directed at children leads them to choose high-calorie, low-nutrient products, which may "put kids' long-term health at risk."

Since then, the Center for Science in the Public Interest has issued Guidelines for Responsible Food Marketing to Children, and the Federal Trade Commission is beginning to investigate how food and beverage manufacturers market to children.

The food industry is taking notice.

Just last month, 10 major food and beverage companies, responsible for more than two-thirds of the ads directed at children, pledged to promote healthier foods or lifestyles. They also agreed not to advertise in elementary schools or place their products in children's entertainment.

The use of cartoon or movie characters to sell food is a hot-button issue, and several companies, including The Walt Disney Co., have agreed to use their characters only to sell foods that meet certain nutritional guidelines.

While AAP outlined a number of recommendations aimed at advertisers in its new policy statement, the primary solution it suggests is to enhance the "media literacy" of children and adolescents.

Helping kids be critical viewers of media in all of its forms, including advertising, may be protective in "mitigating harmful effects of media, including the effects of cigarette, alcohol and food advertising," reads the AAP statement.

Growing numbers of non-profit organizations, such as the Center for Media Literacy, are promoting the value of media education and arming teachers with media literacy curriculum.

AAP launched its own media education campaign in 1997, called Media Matters, to help pediatricians, parents, and children become more aware of the influence that media -- including TV, movies, computer and video games, Internet, advertising and popular music -- have on child and adolescent health.

In this latest policy statement, AAP urges pediatricians to become familiar with the methods that advertisers use to target children, and encourages them to write letters to advertisers if they see inappropriate ads.

AAP also recommends that pediatricians only subscribe to magazines that are free of tobacco and alcohol advertisements for their waiting rooms.

Janet Helm, MS, RD, is a registered dietitian and nutrition consultant in Chicago, Ill.