Commercial Advertising Impact on Child Obesity

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Table of Contents

Introduction
Prediction
Data
Conclusion
Works Cited

Introduction

There have been increased cases of child obesity across the globe over the past few decades. Children are increasingly engaging in inactive behaviour (such as watching television) and spending less time on exercising (Chou, Rashad and Grossman 3).

Research Question

Does commercial advertising of foods contributes to the epidemic of obesity among children?

Hypotheses

Null hypothesis, H₀: Commercial advertising of foods does not contribute to the epidemic of obesity among children
Alternative hypothesis, H₁: Commercial advertising of foods contributes to the epidemic of obesity among children

Table 1: Prevalence of children overweight

Country	Year of Survey	Age Range (Years)	Prevalence of overweight (%)	1996 prevalence (adjusted at 0.5% pa)
Australia	1995	7-11	19.4	19.9
USA	1991	6-11	23.5	26.0
UK	1996	6-15	19.6	19.6
France	2000	7-9	18.1	16.1
Germany	1995	7-11	15.6	16.1
Denmark	1997	7-11	14	13.5
Finland	1999	12	15.8	14.3
Greece	2002	7-12	20.5	17.5
Netherlands	1997	7-11	12.8	12.3
Sweden	2000	9-11	18	16

Table 2: Average number of advertisements per 20 h on children’s television (surveyed in February 1996)

Country	Total advertisements	Food advertisements	Sweet/fatty foods	Healthier foods	Other foods	Non-food advertisements	Entertainment	All obesogenic
Australia	589	231	192	0	39	358	147	339
USA	484	215	210	0	5	269	218	428
UK	331	194	154	0	40	137	30	184
France	330	164	141	7	16	166	79	220
Germany	279	115	90	11	14	164	61	151
Denmark	250	95	60	14	21	155	65	125
Finland	248	116	95	15	6	132	27	122
Greece	233	140	136	0	4	93	0	136
Netherlands	91	77	77	0	0	14	14	91
Sweden	337	7	5	1	4	26	12	17

Prediction

Commercial advertising of foods contributes to the epidemic of obesity among children.

Data

From the data presented in table 1 above, children in the age bracket 6-11 years among all the ten countries sampled had a certain level of obesity. For example, United States had the highest level of obesity preference in children of age category 6-11 years. Greece and Australia had the second and third highest level of obesity preference represented by a score of 20.5 percent and 19.4 percent respectively. The evidence presented shows that there is link between advertisement and obesity preference among children of all age categories. For example, children in United States watched on a 20 hour average 210 sweet and fatty foods advertisements. Children in Greece and Australia watched on a 20 hour average 136 and 192 sweet and fatty foods advertisements respectively. Children in the Netherlands had a low exposure (77) to sweet and fatty foods advertisements. In a similar way, it will be noted that children who spent more hours watching sweet and fatty foods advertisements had a high obesity preference. Children exposed to long periods of sweet and fatty foods advertisements had a high obesity preference. In all the countries surveyed, children were exposed to short periods of advertisements targeting healthy foods (Lobstein and Dibb 3).

Conclusion

We can conclude that exposure of children of all age categories to sweet and fatty foods advertisements contributes to high obesity preference. Children with the highest obesity preference (Americans with 23.5%) were also exposed to sweet and fatty foods advertisements for long periods (210 on a 20 hour average). Children with short periods of sweet and fatty foods advertisements had a low level of obesity preference.

Works Cited

Chou, Shin-Yi, Inas Rashad, and Michael Grossman. Fast-food restaurant advertising on television and its influence on childhood obesity. No. w11879. National Bureau of Economic Research, 2005. Web.

Lobstein, Tim, and Sue Dibb. “Evidence of a possible link between obesogenic food advertising and child overweight.” Obesity reviews 6.3 (2005): 203-208. Print.

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