Post: Superbowl = Superjunk
Superbowl = Superjunk
If you were to have eaten just one of everything advertised in the first quarter of the Superbowl, you would have consumed 1171 calories. Keeping in mind that the recommended daily diet has just 2,000 calories, you'd have eaten over half your day's food after just 15 minutes of the game had been played.
And all you would have had were drinks and snacks -- the higher calorie items like the Jack in the Box's Sirloin Steak 'n' Mushroom Ciabatta Sandwich (790 calories, including 39 grams of fat) and Taco Bell's Carne Asada Steak Grilled Taquitos (320 calories, including 12 grams of fat) didn't appear until the third quarter. (Really, you may have had a a hard time counting all the calories, since by the end of the game you would have consumed nine bottles of beers).
These stats give you an upset stomach? They probably should.
For an average of $2.6 million for each 30 second Superbowl spot, advertisers get a huge amount of exposure. Considering the reach these spots have, it's important to look at the possible impact of fast food ads on people’s dietary choices, especially given the rise in obesity-related medical costs. It’s important to consider how junk food ads especially influence nutritional choices our kids make.
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. 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.
There. Is your stomach feeling better now?
We based our counts on the consumption of one serving of food, or one can or bottle of drink. We counted the first quarter from kickoff until the start of the second quarter. For more on last year's Superbowl calorie count, click here.
There are 7 replies to this post
Date: February 5, 2007
While I agree with, and do practice, teaching critical thinking to my 11 year old son, I find it difficult to imagine how children would be so specifically affected by ads, when their disposable income is so (or at least should be) monitored by their parents.
My son has an allowance, like most kids his age. Yet he isn't out shopping without some supervision. Were he to consume fast food, for example, outside of our purview and with any frequency, his allowance would run out, his lack of appetite would be noticeable at dinner time, etc.
While I understand the influence TV and other media have on children, I fail to follow how it matters if there is some supervision in place.
Link: http://whatsit2you.blogspot.com
Date: February 5, 2007
I think the thing to remember is that these messages do reach kids -- who get the gim-mes and pressure their parents to buy them stuff. Or they buy this fast food when they are making more of their own decisions (ie school lunch time/ weekends with friends, etc).
Think of it this way: If the fast food makers didn't think their messages were having impact on kids (and their own bottom lines), would they bother advertising during Sesame Street and other kiddie programs?
Date: February 5, 2007
Well, I have no problem with advertisers trying to make money; heck, they have families, too.
Sooner or later, my kids will be on their own, and hopefully the values we instill in them will count for something.
As for the gim-mees, I guess my much-better-half and I have better luck with 'no' than other parents.
I guess what I am saying is that I don't mind the kinds of commercials seen on a sporting event, for example, so long as I maintain my influence over him.
Link: http://whatsit2you.blogspot.com
Date: February 6, 2007
donnamartin: Sesame Street is on PBS, a non-commercial station. And I have a feeling they would never take a sponsorship from McDonald's or anything similar.
Date: February 6, 2007
You would be wrong, Mr. Blond, because McDonald's DOES indeed sponsor Sesame Street and is the first ad before the show starts.
Date: February 8, 2007
I also think its time to end the charade that PBS is non-commercial. When I was a kid, there would be a monotone voice that would announce 'funding for this show and others is provided by...' and then read a list of donors, followed by '...and viewers like you.'
Today there are 15-45 second videos, which are nothing more than a commercial in my mind.
And along with McD's is Chucky Cheese, and a host of other commercial entities. I have no problem with sponsorship by any of these companies; I just don't like hypocrisy.
Link: http://whatsit2you.blogspot.com
Date: February 14, 2007
In my opinion, I would not be as worried about the food content of the commercials as the sexual content.
Every time I watch the SuperBowl, there are sexual innuendoes in some of the commercials, expecially beer commericials.
I decided not even to watch it this year.