Kids Want Fast Food? Blame All the Ads Targeted at Them, and Forget About Nutrition

It's no surprise that fast food makers target their ads to kids.  We all know that.  But did you also know that  less than 1 percent of all fast food kids' meal combinations meet the recommended national nutrition standards?  And that only 3 percent of kids' meal combinations met standards set by the fast food industry itself for childhood nutrition?

So reports dailyrx.com on a new study just out from Yale that found that kids see two to three fast food ads every day, and that's because in 2012 fast food advertising increased 8 percent from 2009. All in all, $4.6 billion was spent in advertising for fast food restaurants in 2012, according to the Web site.

"For context, the biggest advertiser, McDonald’s, spent 2.7 times as much to advertise its products ($972 million) as all fruit, vegetable, bottled water, and milk advertisers combined ($367 million)," the report explained.

dailyrx.com notes that, according to the study, the average US preschooler saw 2.8 fast food TV ads every day in 2012. The average child between the ages of 6 and 11 saw 3.2 ads per day, and the average teenager saw 4.8 fast food TV ads every day, though these were an improvement for children in the 6-to-11 age range.  They saw 10 percent fewer fast food TV ads than they saw in 2009.

And it breaks down by race.  According to the report, "black children and teens saw an estimated 60 percent more fast food ads than white youth, which may be due to more TV watching," dailrx.com points out, while it was also found that "Hispanic preschoolers were exposed to 16 percent more fast food TV ads on Spanish-language TV than in 2009."



 

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