Debra M. Desrochers and Debra J. Holt
Executive Summary
It is estimated that 17% of children and adolescents ages 2–19 in the United States are overweight, which makes childhood obesity a major health concern. While the prevalence of childhood obesity has risen, there has been concurrent changes in the media and techniques used to market all products to children, including food, which has prompted many researchers to examine the correlation between these shifts. One such report, prepared by the Institute of Medicine and based on a review of 155 studies of food marketing practices and their influence on children, concludes that exposure to television advertising is associated with increased body fat in children ages 2–11. In particular, it is often argued that a factor in the rise in childhood obesity is the increasing quantity of children's advertising exposure since 1977, often pointing to estimates that children's exposure increased from 20,000 television commercials a year in the 1970s, to 30,000 per year in the 1980s, to approximately 40,000 a year in 1990s. Therefore, in an effort to combat children's obesity, several constituencies are calling for restrictions on food marketing directed toward children, particularly television advertising of less nutritious foods.
However, this remedy has not been universally endorsed because the evidence used to support it does not necessarily provide an accurate measure of children's exposure to television advertising. For example, many studies have used television watching as a proxy for ad exposure, and this may not be the best surrogate since there are more sources of television programming presented without advertisements now than in 1977, including numerous cable channels and public television channels. Thus, an unanswered question is, How many and what type of television advertisements are children exposed to today, and how does that compare with their ad exposure before the rise in obesity rates? In an effort to answer this question, the Bureau of Economics at the Federal Trade Commission undertook a comprehensive analysis of children's current exposure to television advertising and how their exposure has changed from that measured by several 1977 studies of children's television advertising exposure.
To assess children's total television advertising exposure, the Federal Trade Commission obtained four weeks of data from Nielsen Media Research/Nielsen Monitor-Plus Service. The data include all programs aired during the four weeks beginning November 2, 2003, February 8, 2004, May 2, 2004, and July 4, 2004; the audience composition for each program; and the paid commercial advertisements, public service announcements, and promotions for a network's own or affiliated programming embedded in those programs. In addition, for each advertisement, specific information includes the advertiser, brand, television network, time aired, ad length, and a product code. Consequently, the data for this investigation are more comprehensive than any used in recent studies.
The major contribution of this study is that it is a comprehensive analysis of children's actual exposure to television advertising on all programming. As a result, the authors present new insights into what children actually see, when they see it, and where they see it; these are valuable because television remains the primary medium used to advertise to children. Furthermore, this calls into question and corrects some assumptions that have guided recent thinking. The analysis of the full range of children's viewing shows (1) how much television children watch per day, (2) how many advertisements children are exposed to annually and how many are for food, (3) how much of their exposure comes from children's programming, (4) how much of their exposure occurs on cable programming, (5) what categories of products appear to be targeted to children, (6) when children obtain their advertising exposures, and (7) what are the audience characteristics of the programs during which children receive their advertising exposure. Compared with1977, the findings show how total exposure to advertising has changed and, to the extent possible, how it has changed for certain product categories.
In summary, the primary objective of this article is to highlight and summarize the major findings of the Bureau of Economics staff report. In closing, the authors also acknowledge some caveats and identify some considerations pertaining to proposed advertising restrictions. These findings and insights will be useful to policy makers, researchers, marketers, and other constituencies who are addressing the causes of and developing solutions to the obesity problem.
Biography
Debra M. Desrochers is an assistant professor in the Marketing Department at the Mendoza College of Business, University of Notre Dame. She received her MBA and PhD from the William E. Simon Graduate School of Business Administration, University of Rochester, and her BS from Bates College in Lewiston, Maine. Her research focuses on developing an understanding of how the use of specific marketing activities and practices affects today's markets and the consumer, with significant attention on the policy issues surrounding food marketing. Before attending graduate school, she became an associate of the Society of Actuaries and worked as an actuary at UNUM Life Insurance Company in Portland, Maine.
Debra J. Holt is an economist in the Bureau of Economics at the Federal Trade Commission. She received her PhD from the University of Michigan and her BS from George Washington University. Her research focuses on experimental economics, antitrust, and issues regarding obesity and marketing. Dr. Holt's research has appeared in Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, George Mason Law Review, Games and Economic Behavior, and Journal of Private Enterprise, as well as American Marketing Association and Association for Consumer Research conference proceedings. Before joining the Federal Trade Commission, she was Assistant Professor of Economics at Queens University in Kingston, Ontario, Canada, and Research Fellow at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, Vol. 26, No. 2, Fall 2007
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