Fast Food Ads Continue to Attract Kids

LEBANON, N.H.Although fast food companies promised to do better with the types of commercials they run, the companies continue to fail by gearing them towards kids by using movie references, cartoon characters, and toys, according to a study published in PLOS ONE.

All those thing lure kids to eat greasy, nutrition-lacking foods such as hamburgers and French fries.

Since 2006, the Better Business Bureau has ran a Children's Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative where companies pledge that the commercials will only feature meal combinations that meet certain nutritional values and will stay away from emphasizing toys, for example.

Fast food chains did not live up to their pledges to use fair and honest advertising to children," said principal investigator Jim Sargent, M.D., co-director Cancer Control Program at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Norris Cotton Cancer Center. Instead, the ads focused on toy premiums, movie character tie-ins, and efforts to brand the company, like showing a street view of the restaurant."

The study reviewed television ads on U.S. cable and network television between July 1, 2009 and June 30, 2010, focusing on the top 25 fast food restaurants. In that year, McDonalds and Burger King had 99 percent of ads. McDonalds targeted 40 percent of its advertisement at young children in comparison to Burger King, who held the target at 21 percent.  As a result, McDonalds placed more than two-thirds of all ads for childrens fast food. Seventy-nine percent of ads appeared on four cable networksCartoon Network, Nickelodeon, Disney XD, and Nicktoons.

In addition to added toys, cartoon characters and so on, more visual cues, such as logos, symbols and packaging, appear in commercials geared at kids in comparison to adults.

Branding tactics are widely used in fast food advertising aimed at children," said Sargent. Advertisers use images of toy premiums, music, and movie characters to associate their product with excitement, energy, and fun. They emphasize recognition of the brand, the packaging and the restaurant, with little emphasis on the food products sold there. This heavy dose of branding serves to help a child recognize the storefront of a fast food chain from the backseat and pester their parents to stop for a meal that features the latest superhero."

Earlier research confirms that food advertisements alter eating choices and behaviors, and associating food with animated characters enhances a childs perceived food taste and preference. Research also shows that kids who see these ads eat more fast food.

Given the percentage of toy premiums and movie tie-ins in the visual and audio elements of the ads, the research team concluded that the companies studied did not follow through with their self-regulatory promises during the study period.

We hope the study can encourage greater accountability in food advertising to children," said Sargent. To be effective, I think we need annual evaluations conducted by an agency like the Federal Trade Commission."

In a study conducted earlier this year, 84 percent of all foods and beverage advertised to children on Spanish-language television shows were unhealthy.