Take a healthy look at food advertising.

Even when marketed as “now with real juice!“ or “contains 10 essential vitamins,“ a sugary soda with 300 calories just isn‘t good for you. Some junk food advertising is really misleading. But you don’t need to be a nutritionist to know that too much of these foods is bad for your kids.

What is it?

Kids are bombarded by advertising for junk food and fast food everywhere they turn. In fact, kids see one food commercial every five minutes during Saturday morning cartoons. Most of these foods are high in fat, sugar, and calories. Fast food chains appeal to kids with tie-ins to movies, giving toys or prizes to kids who buy certain meals.

As kids age, they are subjected to promotional campaigns with offers for free music downloads, ring tones, and games sponsored by the food and beverage industry. The beverage industry alone spends more than $3 billion marketing directly to kids. Advertisers sneak junk food – called “product placement“ – into hundreds of TV shows, movies, and online games. They even find their way into our schools by way of score boards, special events, and textbook sponsorship.

Why it matters

There is a direct connection between ads and eating habits. One out of every three kids in this country is at risk for becoming obese. American kids consume more than one-third of their daily calories from soft drinks, sweets, salty snacks, and fast food. As kids associate pleasure with junk food, they develop lifelong, unhealthy habits that are really difficult to break.

Parent tips for preschool kids

• Keep them away from advertising as much as possible. Let them watch commercial-free TV or use a DVR to skip through ads.
• Take the TV out of your kid’s bedroom. There’s a direct correlation between weight and where the TV is in the house.
• Teach kids under 7 the difference between a TV program and a commercial. Point out commercials and use a timer to show them when the commercial begins and ends.

Parent tips for elementary school kids

• Talk about health, not appearance. Help your kids have a balanced approach to food, emphasizing healthy food choices based on nutrition, not diet.
• Help kids identify junk food advertising messages in product placement, Web site games, and guerilla marketing. Watch TV or play a video or online game with your child and find the products and logos used as props or part of the storyline. Have a conversation about how the messages try to get them to buy a product.
• Start a conversation. Ask them what they know about who created the ad and what words, images, or sounds were used to attract their attention. How did they feel after seeing the ad?
• Explain “tricks” that advertisers use in commercials, like using Vaseline to make hamburgers look juicy.

Parent tips for middle and high school kids

• Talk about “super sizing.” Your kids need to know that a 32-ounce soda isn’t a “good deal.”
• Agree on fast food rules for lunch. As in, as little as possible. Point out that schools around the country have banned sodas and junk food.
• Take time to have dinner together. We are still the role models for our kids. If we feed them right and set an example for good eating, chances are they will follow it.
• Talk about peer pressure. Many ads will count on the fact that kids are especially sensitive to peer pressure to be cool. Remind your kids that advertisers are counting on this vulnerability to sell things.

Download resources in Spanish

Download our Junk Food Ads Tip-Sheet in Spanish