Post: Superbowl Fast Food Ads Highlight Kids and Nutrition Issues
Superbowl Fast Food Ads Highlight Kids and Nutrition Issues
It’s no secret that the Superbowl has become much more than the culmination of the football season. For decades now the big game has been as much a celebration of pigskin as it has been a forum for two of our greatest excesses: advertising and eating – and often a combination of the two. We at Common Sense kept track of every food and drink product advertised during the Superbowl – and the results were pretty revealing.
We ran some numbers, and found that if you consumed just one serving of every fast food product advertised during the game, you would have taken in 3325 calories. Keep in mind that the recommended daily diet has just 2,000 calories. And along with all those calories, you’d have gotten 178 grams of fat (almost twice the FDA’s recommended daily allowance), and nearly 7500 mg of sodium (the FDA’s recommended daily intake is 2400 mg).
Sure, Superbowl Sunday is KNOWN for its advertising overload. But as obesity related medical costs in this country continue to rise, it’s important to consider how junk food ads influence the nutritional choices people – and especially kids – make. Over the past few months we’ve seen some of the nation’s top nutritional scientists take a hard look at how advertising impacts kids’ dietary choices. A study released by the Institute of Medicine in December found that ads targeted at kids under 12 led them to request foods with little or no nutritional value. This study comes on the heels of new data highlighting that childhood obesity has tripled in America over the past 30 years. Understandably, these findings have ruffled some feathers. A group of parents in Massachusetts have even sued Nickelodeon and Kellogg for their practice of advertising junk food to kids.
Since kids are bombarded by advertising messages, one of the best things that you can do is give them the tools to think critically about the messages and images they’re exposed to. Media literacy expert Frank Baker offers some suggestions about how you can talk with your kids about junk food ads here . We’ve also developed the “Selling to Kids” tip sheet with some additional hints.
Fast food ads are everywhere, but if we work to help our children understand the nature or marketing, and how to make smart dietary choices, we’ll ensure a generation of kids who lead healthy, active lives.
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Date: February 7, 2006
I don't understand what the confusion is.
Fat, fried in Fat...with Fat on it....will make you Fat!
And is anyone prosecuting these parents who buy & feed their kids enough junk food to put their health at risk?