Kansans and Friends In Weight Loss

Junk Food Marketing and the Kansan Connection

18 07 2007

For those of you who have been following my blog here you know I have been reporting on the battle to reform the media’s influence on childhood obesity. Today was the day that the joint commission of the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Health and Human services sat down at a workshop to reveal a report on how the 57 programs studied by the Associated Press have been reformed.

To give you some background I started following this story back in April of this year when there was talk about the FCC needing to get involved in regulation of all advertising practices geared toward kids and junk food marketing. In May of this year there was some buzz on Capital Hill about limiting the amount of junk food advertising toward children. Ed Markey(D-Mass.) has been the one at the forefront in pushing the FCC to get involved.

According to a June 4th article the FTC says that there are 9% fewer ad’s-5,538 in 2004 down from 6,100 in 1977. To me,while this may seem to be a significant decrease to some we still have a long way to go. The Kaiser Family Foundation 2005 study released in March showed a number double of what the FTC study showed.

95% of todays current advertising is pitching fast foods and restaurants,high sugar-cereal,desserts,sweets,snacks,and sweetened drinks.

Going back to the Associated Press report they feel that of the 57 programs currently being funded that encourage healthy eating habits among young kids the $1 billion to fund these programs is being wasted.

The government task force report was due out this month,but now has been pushed back to September. Food industry lobbyists are the ones responsible for influencing the delay of the report.

Also it is worth mentioning that the task force which was initiated by our own state Senator Sam Brownback was not meant to be a finger pointing mechanism but rather a tool to join hands against the fight against childhood obesity.

Now with that being said I traditionally do not vote republican when I go to the polls. I come from a democratic household and thus vote democrat when I feel we have a candidate worth voting for. However, I have applauded Senator Brownback for taking the initiative to get a movement any kind of movement going in an effort to focus on prevention so that we don’t have to spend money into treatment of obesity down the road.

One thing too is that I fail to see why the junk food marketers tend to target a population that is such a vulnerable market? These are the formative years when a child’s mind is still learning and growing. We should be instilling in them healthy eating and living habits instead of habits that will create problems that we have to pick up the tab for until they turn 18 and can go find their own insurance and pay their own bills.

In Kansas their was a study done around the early part of this decade that found that the state was spending well over $300 million in obesity related expenses from the medicare/medicaid budget. That is money that could have been used to expand the food stamp program so that recipients could maybe get more. A family of two like myself and my son are actually allowed just over $200 a month, but we get $157 a month.

Ok so now I am rambling on a bit I tend to do that when I get on a subject I am passionate about. I did an extensive amount of research last semester into the state food stamp program for a project I had to do for a class and what I learned I could use for content on this blog for many many weeks and months to come.

Additional Source not linked to: Media Post Publications

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Categories : Sam Brownback, FTC, FCC, children, advertising, cable junk food ad's, junk food, childhood obesity, food advertising for children

The latest on the FTC,junk food Ad’s and childhood obesity.

4 06 2007

Less Bloat: FTC Says Kids See Fewer TV Food Ads Than 30 Years Ago

by Wayne Friedman, Monday, Jun 4, 2007 7:45 AM ET

CONTRADICTING EARLIER STUDIES, A NEW government report suggests that we may not be able to blame TV for kids’ obesity. That’s because there are fewer TV food ads now than 30 years ago.

According to the Federal Trade Commission, children ages 2-11 were exposed to fewer paid TV food advertising minutes, at about 9% fewer ads–5,538 commercials in 2004 versus 6,100 food ads in 1977.

“Our data does not support the view that children are exposed to more TV food ads today,” the FTC said in its report, which was released Friday.

Of the food TV spots airing currently, almost 95% are pitching fast foods and restaurants, high-sugared cereal, desserts, sweets, snacks and sweetened drinks. But the FTC says this data doesn’t say much–especially as it relates to the growing obesity issue. “While the foods advertised on children’s programming in 2004 do not constitute a balanced diet, this was the case as well in 1977, before the rise in obesity,” the FTC notes in its report.

The FTC also said children viewed 7% fewer non-food paid commercials in 2004 than in 1977–12,786 versus 13,629. As for kid-targeted promos and public service announcements, the FTC says that number more than doubled to 7,305 from 2,190. The report didn’t break down which of these messages were food- and non-food-related.

Concerning messaging overall, the FTC said that in 2004 there were 25,600 messages–of all types–directed at kids, versus 21,900 in 1977.

The FTC 2004 study is at odds with others that put recent food ad figures at a much higher level. The Kaiser Family Foundation, for example, concluded in its 2005 study, which was released in March, that kids are seeing more junk food ads today than ever before–some 12,000 advertisements for kids 2-12, or more than double the FTC’s figure.

The FTC reports adds that, not surprisingly, a large majority of kids’ TV viewing of commercials comes from cable networks such as Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network. Sixty-one percent percent of children’s total ad exposure and 72% of their food ad exposure was from cable programming.

Other kids’ TV viewing data said commercials viewed by kids average 25 seconds in length; that kids view two-and-a-quarter hours of ad-supported television a day, or 16 hours per week; and that over 50% of the ads were seen between 4 p.m. and midnight. Less than 5% of the ads were watched on Saturday morning between 8 a.m. and noon.

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Categories : childhood obesity, junk food, cable junk food ad's

House: Hearings On Food Marketing To Kids

22 05 2007

House: Hearings On Food Marketing To Kids

by Wayne Friedman, Tuesday, May 22, 2007 7:45 AM ET

AS IF TV NETWORKS DON’T have enough to worry about when it comes to food advertisers.

Now word comes that the House Telecommunications & Internet Subcommittee, chaired by Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), will probably hold hearings on the media’s food marketing to kids–possibly this summer.

The only question is whether to hold them before or after a government-industry task force on childhood obesity and food marketing makes its recommendations to Congress.

That task force could recommend limiting–or even eliminating–food ads for children’s television programs. Markey doesn’t want to wait, which could raise concerns for nervous kids’ TV advertisers–especially those that buy TV time in the high-demand fourth-quarter holiday sales.

In a separate but related matter, the FCC yesterday gave WKBW-TV in Buffalo, N.Y. an official reprimand for failing to maintain its files on children’s programming.

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Categories : childhood obesity, cable junk food ad's, food advertising for children