January 2009 - Hot Topic

Advertising Responsibly To Children

Advertising targeted to children is predominantly focused on products that undermine parents’ and public health professionals’ efforts to promote healthy diets and physical activity…

by Brian Cook, Research Consultant, Toronto Public Health

The influence of advertising on child health has received increasing scrutiny recently due, in part, to the rising prevalence of childhood obesity and indicators of poor diet. But many other allegations have been made about the negative influence of advertising on child health, such as the promotion of poor body image, physical inactivity, the sexualization of childhood, and excess consumption and materialistic beliefs.

The intensity and frequency of advertising to children has increased dramatically in recent decades. Today’s children are more exposed than any previous generation. Promotional messages employ more sophisticated techniques than ever before, and have expanded into new media.

Children have become an important focus for marketers for many reasons.

  • Marketing to young people is critical to establishing and maintaining a lifelong relationship with customers because children are more impressionable and lack the skepticism of teens and adults.

  • Children (age 9-14 yrs) are a powerful economic group in their own right, spending $2.9 billion of their own money. Their "kidfluence" on household purchases in Canada is estimated at $20 billion annually.

Advertising targeted to children is predominantly focused on products that undermine parents’ and public health professionals’ efforts to promote healthy diets and physical activity. A sample from January 2008 found that over 90% of food ads shown during children’s TV programs in Canada promoted unhealthy foods. For every industry sponsored public service message promoting healthy lifestyles to children, there were approximately 90 unhealthy food ads.

Authorities acknowledge undue influence

The U.S. Institute of Medicine concluded that there is strong evidence that TV advertising influences children’s food and beverage preferences, purchase requests and short-term consumption. There is a great deal of research showing that children under eight years of age generally lack the cognitive ability to understand the persuasive intent of advertising. Beyond that age, up to 10-12 years, children are still developing the ability to retrieve and use information stored in memory and often don’t use their critical evaluation skills to interpret ads unless prompted to do so.

For many decades, children’s advertising has had primary responsibility for regulating itself. However, the system focuses on traditional TV ads and is unable to address overall exposure, only individual ads. In general, industry self-regulation aims to prevent direct harm and promote trust in ads rather than specifically address public health concerns.

Recent voluntary industry changes, such as the Canadian Children’s Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative, are so full of holes that they only serve to legitimize existing unhealthy food advertising practices. For example, companies pledged to advertise only "healthy dietary choices" to children, but the foods they defined as "healthy" include products such as Froot Loops®, Reese’s Puffs®, and Chocolate Lucky Charms® cereals.

Canadian legislation

In light of these trends and the poor level of oversight, a growing number of health authorities have called for restrictions on commercial advertising targeted to children. At its October 2008 Annual General Meeting, OPHA adopted a motion calling for "a ban on all commercial advertising targeted to children under 13 years of age by the Government of Ontario, the Government of Canada or both".

Canada is in a better position to implement a comprehensive children’s ad ban than any Western country. In 1989 the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that a ban on children’s advertising is reasonable and justifiable, noting that "…advertising directed at young children is per se manipulative". Industry Canada’s Competition Bureau already enforces violations of the federal Competition Act which prohibits marketing that is "false or misleading". Its enforcement powers cover all media, including the Internet.

Although many marketing messages cross national borders, 89% Canadian children’s TV viewing time is devoted to domestic stations, which would be subject to Canadian laws. At the provincial level, Ontario’s existing Consumer Protection Act (2002) and Consumer Protection Bureau provide the basis for an enforcement framework as well. As in Quebec, where children’s ads have been prohibited since 1980, an ad ban would still permit non-commercial health promoting ads to be directed at children.

Prioritizing children's health

Though challenges in achieving broad restrictions on child-targeted advertising exist, the absence of perfect solutions is not an excuse for inaction.

Public health efforts to promote child health are dramatically undermined when marketers, society’s wealthiest and most vocal communicators of food and nutrition information, are clearly not willing or sufficiently informed to be leaders in educating our children. The current recession underscores the need to prioritize child health. The economic downturn was sparked by private interests that were allowed to run wild coupled with unsustainable levels of debt and overconsumption.

What can be done

Now is the time to reassert that our society’s focus should be to foster an environment that optimally supports child health and development, rather than training them to be consumers. To this end, the practice of specifically targeting children with commercial advertising must end.

To learn more you might consider attending the alPHa’s Food For Thought presentation and business meeting February 5 and 6. The afternoon session of February 5 will focus on advertising to children. OPHA is also assessing the viability of a workgroup on Advertising to Children. If you are interested in participating, please contact Brian Cook.