Food advertising and childhood obesity.

• Main Author: Lim, Jessica Qian Hua.
• Other Authors: School of Humanities and Social Sciences
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2012
• Subjects: DRNTU::Social sciences::Psychology
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/48739
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Childhood obesity is a worldwide epidemic that has garnered much attention and concern from governmental bodies and international health organizations because of its negative physical and psychological implications that could be carried over to, and exacerbate in, adulthood and. Food advertising has been identified by many research as a huge contributor to childhood obesity. The marketing strategies and tactics employed in food advertising are deemed to be the main culprit, exploiting the immature minds of children and shape their food preferences, choices and consumption behavior. Content analyses of children television programs revealed that most of the advertisements in children’s channels are food advertisements, and the majority of them are advertising for unhealthy foods such as snacks, confectionaries and fast foods. These commercials engaged in various marketing strategies that work to bias children’s food preference and choices towards the advertised products. Children, being cognitively undeveloped, are unable to fend off these negative advertising influences, thus resulting in excessive consumption of those calorie-dense but nutrient-deficient foods, leading to obesity. However, parental involvement and media literacy have been found to be effective mediators of advertising’s influence, and with proper interventions, the problem of obesity could be controlled and improved.