Reading Practice

Food advertising on children

Food advertising on children
This review was commissioned by the Food Standards Agency to examine the current
research evidence on:

• the extent and nature of food promotion to children

the effect, if any, that this promotion has on their food knowledge, preferences and
behaviour.

Children’s food promotion is dominated by television advertising, and the great majority of
this promotes the so-called ‘Big Four’ of pre-sugared breakfast cereals, soft drinks,
confectionery and savoury snacks. In the last ten years advertising for fast food, outlets
have rapidly increased. There is some evidence that the dominance of television has
recently begun to wane. The importance of strong, global branding reinforces a need for
multi-faceted communications combining television with merchandising, ‘tie-ins’ and point
of sale activity. The advertised diet contrasts sharply with that recommended by public
health advisors, and themes of fun and fantasy or taste, rather than health and nutrition,
are used to promote it to children. Meanwhile, the recommended diet gets little promotional
support.

There is plenty of evidence that children notice and enjoy food promotion. However,
establishing whether this actually influences them is a complex problem. The review
tackled it by looking at studies that had examined possible effects on what children know
about food, their food preferences, their actual food behaviour (both buying and eating),
and their health outcomes (eg. Obesity or cholesterol levels). The majority of studies
examined food advertising, but a few examined other forms of food promotion. In terms of
nutritional knowledge, food advertising seems to have little influence on children’s general
perceptions of what constitutes a healthy diet, but, in certain contexts, it does have an
effect on more specific types of nutritional knowledge. For example, seeing soft drink and
cereal adverts reduced primary aged children’s ability to determine correctly whether or not
certain products contained real fruit.

The review also found evidence that food promotion influences children’s food preferences
and purchase behaviour. A study of primary school children, for instance, found that
exposure to advertising influenced which foods they claimed to like; and another showed
that labelling and signage on a vending machine had an effect on what was bought by
secondary school pupils. A number of studies have also shown that food advertising can
influence what children eat. One, for example, showed that advertising influenced a primary
class’s choice of daily snack at playtime.

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The next step, of trying to establish whether or not a link exists between food promotion
and diet or obesity, is extremely difficult as it requires research to be done in real-world
settings. A number of studies have attempted this by using the amount of television viewing
as a proxy for exposure to television advertising. They have established a clear link
between television viewing and diet, obesity, and cholesterol levels. It is impossible to say,
however, whether this effect is caused by the advertising, the sedentary nature of television
viewing or snacking that might take place whilst viewing. One study resolved this problem
by taking a detailed diary of children’s viewing habits. This showed that the more food
adverts they saw, the more snacks and calories they consumed.

Thus the literature does suggest food promotion is influencing children’s diet in a number of
ways. This does not amount to proof; as noted above with this kind of research,
incontrovertible proof simply isn’t attainable. Nor do all studies point to this conclusion;
several have not found an effect. In addition, very few studies have attempted to measure
how strong these effects are relative to other factors influencing children’s food choices.
Nonetheless, many studies have found clear effects and they have used sophisticated
methodologies that make it possible to determine that i) these effects are not just due to
chance; ii) they are independent of other factors that influence diets, such as parents’
eating habits or attitudes; and iii) they occur at a brand and category level.

Furthermore, two factors suggest that these findings actually downplay the effect that food
promotion has on children. First, the literature focuses principally on television advertising;
the cumulative effect of this combined with other forms of promotion and marketing is likely
to be significantly greater. Second, the studies have looked at the direct effects of individual
children, and understate indirect influences. For example, promotion for fast food outlets
may not only influence the child but also encourage parents to take them for meals and
reinforce the idea that this is normal and desirable behaviour.

This does not amount to proof of an effect, but in our view does provide sufficient evidence
to conclude that an effect exists. The debate should now shift to what action is needed, and
specifically to how the power of commercial marketing can be used to bring about
improvements in young people’s eating.

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Questions 1-7
Reading Passage 1 has seven paragraphs, A-G.

Choose the most suitable heading for paragraphs A-G from the list of headings below.

Write the appropriate number, i-x, in boxes 1-7 on your answer sheet.

List of Headings

i General points of agreements and disagreements of researchers

ii How much children really know about food

iii Need to take action

iv Advertising effects of the “Big Four”

v Connection of advertising and children’s weight problems

vi Evidence that advertising affects what children buy to eat

vii How parents influence children’s eating habits

viii Advertising’s focus on unhealthy options

ix Children often buy what they want

x Underestimating the effects advertising has on children

1..................... Paragraph A

2..................... Paragraph B

3..................... Paragraph C

4..................... Paragraph D

5..................... Paragraph E

6..................... Paragraph F

7..................... Paragraph G

Questions 8-13
Do the following statements agree with the views of the writer in Reading Passage 1?

In boxes 8-13 on your answer sheet, write

YES if the statement agrees with the views of the writer

NO if the statement contradicts with the views of the writer

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NOT GIVEN if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this

8..................... There is little difference between the healthy diet recommended by

advisors and diet prompted in food advertisements.

9..................... TV advertising has successfully taught children nutritional knowledge

about vitamins and others.

10..................... It is hard to decide which aspect accompanied by TV viewing has caused

weight problems or other detrimental effects on children.

11..................... The preference of food for children is affected by their age and gender.

12..................... The investigation primarily for food promotion on TV advertising tend to

be partial and incomplete

13..................... Wealthy parents tend to buy more “sensible food” for their children.

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Solution:
1. viii 8. NO
2. ii 9. NO
3. vi 10. YES
4. v 11. NOT GIVEN
5. i 12. YES
6. x 13. NOT GIVEN
7. iii

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