Advertising effects on body image - Junk food adverts

The advertising industry is hoping the government will not cave to pressure to introduce a pre-9pm ban on junk food TV advertising, after receiving an encouraging letter from public health minister Dawn Primarolo.

The letter, sent to Baroness Peta Buscombe, the chief executive of the Advertising Association, stated that the government's new obesity strategy would "draw heavily upon partnership".

The tone of the note and its suggestion of a collaborative approach have been taken by the industry as a sign that campaigners' calls for a pre-9pm ad ban will not railroad the government into any action without a full evidence-based process.

Media watchdog Ofcom has estimated that a blanket pre-watershed ban will cost £211m in lost ad revenues.

"We welcome the changes that food manufacturers have already made in advertising directed at children, and are keen to strengthen existing partnerships with the food and advertising industries," Primarolo wrote.

"The new obesity strategy will draw heavily upon partnership with a wide range of stakeholders, in which food advertising industries will undoubtedly play a key role.

"We are eager to address all aspects of the obesity problem, working in partnership with the private sector and society in general to make a real impact on the health of our nation."

Primarolo was responding to a query from the Advertising Association about the government's intentions.

The industry was alarmed last month after health secretary Alan Johnson said junk food ad restrictions should be extended to cover family programmes such as The X Factor.

The advertising industry argues that existing Ofcom restrictions go far enough.

These include a mechanism to assess which shows have an "above average" appeal to under-16s and therefore cannot run any junk food ads.

"I am tired of [advertising] being used as a scapegoat for some of society's genuine problems, and increasingly angry at the distorted arguments being used by some of its opponents," said Tess Alps, the chief executive of TV marketing body Thinkbox, at an advertising conference earlier this month.

"Nobody wants to see irresponsible advertising, including the overwhelming majority of advertisers. Advertising operates under a very successful co-regulation system.

"It adapts to changes in society so that it reflects current moral attitudes. What it does not do – and should never do – is knee-jerk to the agenda of single-interest groups".

Young girls

Girls from a young age are targetted by advertising, they are easily influenced as they are concious about their body image. Girls want to look beautiful and from a young age they are shown beautiful women such as barbie which then as they grow become role models of how they would want to look like. Media has a huge impact on young girls during their stages of growing up. "It is evident from examining the literature that familial and social influences have a strong impact on girls' self esteem and body image disturbances. Studies suggest that the yearning to become thin or maintain a certain body weight has been established in girls as young as age 7 or 8.[4] In an interview conducted among 8 year-old girls, "they agreed that they wanted to be thin, both now and when they grew up[;] when asked whether they worried about how they looked, they said they worried about getting fat." Taken from http://www.ecclectica.ca/issues/2006/1/index.asp?Article=26

Media effects on girls body image

Some research suggests that media images contribute to the rise in the incidence of eating disorders. Most women in advertising, movies, TV, and sports programs are very thin, and this may lead girls to think that the ideal of beauty is thinness. Boys, too, may try to emulate a media ideal by drastically restricting their eating and compulsively exercising.

Research carried out on how advertising effects childrens body image by making them eat the wrong types of foods.

Nutritional Content of Foods Advertised During the Television Programs Children Watch Most
Kristen Harrison, PhD and Amy L. Marske, MA

Kristen Harrison is with the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. At the time of the study, Amy L Marske was a student in the Department of Speech Communication at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.

Correspondence: Requests for reprints should be sent to Kristen Harrison, Department of Speech Communication, University of Illinois, 244 Lincoln Hall, 702 South Wright Street, Urbana IL 61801 (e-mail: krishar@uiuc.edu).



Objectives. We sought to code food (nutritional content and food type and eating occasion) and character (cartoon and live action) attributes of food advertisements airing during television programs heavily viewed by children, and to represent and evaluate the nutritional content of advertised foods in terms of the nutrition facts label.

Methods. Food advertisements (n=426) aimed at general and child audiences were coded for food and character attributes. "Nutrition Facts" label data for advertised foods (n=275) were then analyzed.

Results. Convenience/fast foods and sweets comprised 83% of advertised foods. Snacktime eating was depicted more often than breakfast, lunch, and dinner combined. Apparent character body size was unrelated to eating behavior. A 2000-calorie diet of foods in the general-audience advertisements would exceed recommended daily values (RDVs) of total fat, saturated fat, and sodium. A similar diet of foods in the child-audience advertisements would exceed the sodium RDV and provide 171 g (nearly 1 cup) of added sugar.

Conclusions. Snack, convenience, and fast foods and sweets continue to dominate food advertisements viewed by children. Advertised foods exceed RDVs of fat, saturated fat, and sodium, yet fail to provide RDVs of fiber and certain vitamins and minerals.