It’s a fat fat world : assessing the potential impact of food advertisements on young children’s attitudes towards junk food in Singapore.

• Main Author: Tan, Shou Chang.
• Other Authors: Geoffrey Benjamin
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2009
• Subjects: DRNTU::Social sciences::Mass media::Media effects
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/15143
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Obesity has increasingly become a health concern in newly developed Singapore as overweight and obesity rates amongst young children have increased markedly since the early 1980s (Wang et al.1999). Among the postulated contributors to the rise in childhood obesity rates, television (TV) food advertising has particularly attracted criticism for the potential role it plays in promoting unhealthy dietary practices among children as they may be more susceptible to marketing and because early eating habits may persist in adulthood. This report presents an analysis of television advertisements on four local channels (5, 8, Central and Suria) over a period of seven weeks to examine if there is an unbalanced promotion of obesogenic food on television and whether this has an impact on childhood obesity in Singapore. 200 children, ages four to twelve years old, were surveyed to examine the association between children’s regular TV viewing habits and their food-related attitudes and behaviour. Content analyses indicate that there is a disproportionate portrayal of unhealthy food advertisements (adverts) on local Singaporean television channels and healthy eating is rarely promoted. Results also indicate that heavier TV use and more frequent commercial TV viewing positively correlated with more positive attitudes and beliefs toward junk food.