Effect of Junk Food Advertising on Obesity in Children - Essay Example

WATCHING TELEVISION AND WEIGHT AMONG CHILDREN There has been a lot of discussion on the aspect of the increasing amount of obesity in children, lately. The number of hours of television watching seems to be directly linked to the obesity of children, not to mention the decrease in physical activity. Another hypothesis is that the though children seem to know that fresh fruits and vegetables are healthy, there is an apathy towards attempts at a healthier life style. The key driver and motivator in reducing the input of 'junk foods' is the desire to look attractive and avoid the banter of peer group. To understand the association of the number of hours of television watching and obesity and the reasons for the same, a market research survey was undertaken among the two user groups - mothers of children in the age group of 4 to 15 and among the children themselves among the age of 10 to 15. The details of the survey have been summarised below Problem definition Given that the link between television watching and obesity have been much talked about, there is a need to understand whether this link exists or not. There is also a need to understand from the children, the drivers and motivators for eating fast foods and foods that have high fat content. Research Objectives The key objectives of the research conducted were to understand the Understand the television watching habits of children between the age group of 4 to 15 Understand their food consumption habits Assess and diagnose the link between television watching, food consumption and obesity Understand the motivators for consuming fast foods and the factors that aid in reducing the intake Research Design Methodology - The methodology followed for the research was quantitative and the data was collected using a self completion questionnaire. Sampling - The sampling was done on a purposive basis and the snowballing methodology was used. Respondents were asked to suggest names mothers of children in the age group of 4 to 15 whom they knew. Target respondent - since it is difficult to interview children between the age group of 4-9 years of age, the respondents for the survey were Mother of children in the age group of 4 to 15 Children in the age group of 10-15 Sample Size - The sample size covered in this survey was Mother - 103 Children (10-15 years) - 52 Information areas The key information areas covered in the research were From the mother Various activities for the child in a day Television watching habits Preference of foods Parental control in the intake of food Factors that influence choice of food and reasons for obesity Role of various bodies in controlling obesity in children Reaction to the proposal for ban on advertisements of unhealthy food Opinion of the advertisements for unhealthy foods Demographic details - gender, age of child, economic status of the family, weight of the selected child From the selected child Preference for specific foods Food which are considered healthy Reasons for consumption of 'junk food' Intention to reduce consumption of 'junk foods' and reasons ascribed to it. Analysis The data was analysed to look at the mothers of all children and specifically understand differences between habits and practices of the children in the younger age group and the older age group - these differences have been mentioned in the findings and the tables in the appendix. the girls and the boys - there were no differences which emerged among the boys and the girls at an overall level The questions asked to the children in the age group of 10 to 15 years were analysed separately. Key findings - among mothers 1. Activities undertaken and time spent There were a fair number of activities undertaken by children. Watching television, was the only activity that obtained 100% mentions other than sleeping, eating and going to school. About of the mothers claimed that their children also did some physical activity and participated in sports, cycling etc. This percentage was significantly higher among the younger children in the age group of 4 to 9 years. The average time spent on television was more than 3 hours among the younger group and about 4.3 hours among the older group which was significantly higher than the younger children. In contrast to this the average time spent on any kind of a physical activity was as low as 1.4 and 1.7 hours respectively. The older children, surprisingly spent a significantly higher time in physical activity than the young ones. This data indicates that though more number of younger children involve themselves in physical activity, the older ones spend a larger amount of time on physical activity, swinging the average in their favour. Children watched television irrespective of the time, though the most favourite time bands were 5pm to 7 pm and 7pm to 9pm. It is pertinent to note that a large part of the viewing also happened out of the 5pm to 9pm time band which are considered as children's time band. 2. Food habits and preferences As expected, there was a high preference for unhealthy foods like carbonated drinks, snacks and crisps, chocolates and fast food. Healthy foods like vegetables and fresh fruits were preferred by only about 34% of the children. This preference was significantly higher among the younger kids. Preference for milk was higher among the younger children but seemed to have worn off with age. Also pre-prepared foods like 'heat and serve' were significantly more popular among the older children. 49% of the mothers of younger children were able to decide what their children would eat. This proportion dropped significantly among the mothers for older children (23%). About a third of the mothers could use their influence some of the times. About 49% the mothers felt that their children were eating the right amount of food. However, this proportion was significantly lower among mothers of older kids, probably due the relatively less amount of influence on the older children. Taste of the food and promotions offered with food items were the main reasons offered as choice of food preferred by the children. Advertisements of food items on the television was considered to have an influence by 75% of the mothers. All the aspects had a stronger influence of the older children except for promotions and taste which was significantly higher among the younger group. Other influences like peer pressure and school vending machine were stronger with the older children, who probably had to face more peer pressure and had higher individuality in choice of food eaten. 3. Obesity among children and the role of television About 10% of the younger children and 17% of the older children were classified as obese based on the age, height and weight data collected and the BMI graph from the National Institute of Health 2006. The taste of the unhealthy foods was considered the culprit for obesity among kids by about 87% of the mothers. This was higher among the older kids as the potential to dictate their food intake by parents was limited. Eating the wrong kind of foods and less physical activity were considered and the other reasons for the increasing levels of obesity. Mothers perceived the role of the parents to be the highest in controlling the quantity and quality of the foods. Other bodies which were considered as capable of playing this role were schools and food manufacturers. 5. Food advertising About 50% of the parents were of the belief that advertisements on unhealthy food products should not be banned. Slightly more than a fifth felt that there should be a total ban. The remaining were of the opinion that there needs to be partial ban with such ads being banned from the children specific channels or the time bands when children tended to watch television. About 62% of the mothers interviewed felt that ads for high calorie foods should be made less attractive to children. A similar percentage had issues about food manufacturers making health claim on a certain aspect of food, where the other ingredients were unhealthy. Slightly less than 505 of the mothers felt that these ads should be banned from using celebrities and popular cartoon characters for the promotion of high calorie foods. 6. The link between number of hours of television watched and obesity On analysis of the weight profile of the children (underweight, normal, overweight and obese), along with the number of hours of television watched, it was observed that 40% of the children who watched television for more than 5 hours were obese and the remaining 60% were overweight. About 13% of those who watched between 4 to 5 hours of television were obese. Among those children who watched 2 to 3 and 3 to 4 hours of television the obesity rate was lower. Though the data indicated that they were at a higher risk for the same since their weight was higher than normal. Key findings - among children between 10 to 15 years of age 7. Preference of foods The data for preference for foods quoted by the children was similar to that of the mothers, where fast foods, carbonated drinks, crisps and the like were much preferred. 8. Food and health There seems to be a fairly high awareness of the fact that vegetables, fruits, cereals milk and cheese are healthy foods. However, the along with this knowledge a misconception also reigns high - that the pre prepared foods are also healthy among about 80% of the children. Given their milk content even ice creams are considered healthy by about 70% 9. Motivators for consuming unhealthy foods The taste factor and the peer pressure were stated as the main reasons for the intake of such foods. About 60% of the children did try and resist eating such foods. However, the barriers to eating were not because there were health concerns but were linked to physical beauty and being attractive to avoid peer group banter. Contrary to popular belief, this aspect of concern about looking unattractive was not higher among the girls but was equally prevalent among the boys and there were no significant differences. Summary and recommendations There are in a nutshell two aspects which emerge from the research that was undertaken. All children who view longer hours of television are not obese. But the data suggests that the children who watch higher number of hours of television are more likely to be obese. Secondly, among children there is an apathy towards the long term health effects of the kind of food that they are consuming today. The only reasons for controlling intake of 'junk foods' is linked to looking attractive and presentable in a world which is giving more and more importance to physical beauty. APPENDIX I - QUESTIONNAIRE QUESTIONNAIRE To be given to only mothers of kids between the age group of 4 - 15 years Good morning/ afternoon/evening. I am a student and am doing a dissertation for my project. For the project, I need to understand certain habits of people with regards to television watching and entertainment in general. Could you please take out 5 minutes of your time and help me by filling this small form/questionnaire Please do not leave any question blank. Please tick / circle the appropriate box adjacent to your option. Name :_______________________ Age: __________years Q1 Please tick the following on the basis of what applies to you. Married 1 Have children 1 Not married 2 Do not have children 2 IF YOU HAVE CHILDREN THEN ANSWER Q2 ELSE 'THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME. MY INQUIRY IS AMONG MOTHERS Q2 Could you please write down the names of your children, their age and gender in the table given below NAME Age (completed years) Gender M F M F M F M F PLEASE SELECT ON KID OUT OF THE ONES YOU HAVE MENTIONED AND ANSWER ALL QUESTIONS BELOW BASED ON HIS / HER BEHAVIOUR / DETAILS Please write the age of the selected child __________years Please write the gender of the selected child - _________ Q3 There are various activities that your child must be taking part in. Given below is a list of activities for a child. Could you please circle the ones that your child takes part in. Also please write how many hours in a day approximately, does he / she spend in that activity. ACTIVITY Hours spend on the activity Going to school or at school 1 Sleeping during the day 2 Playing with parents / siblings 3 Any physical activity like - sports, waking, cycling etc 4 At the computer 5 Watching TV 6 Eating 7 Q4 You have said that your child watches _____ hours of television every day. Could you please circle the part of day when he watches television Before 7am 1 7am to 9am 2 9am to 11am 3 11am to 1pm 4 1 pm to 3 pm 5 3 pm to 5pm 6 5pm to 7 pm 7 7pm to 9pm 8 9pm to 11pm 9 After 11pm 10 Q4 Thanks. Now, I have listed below some of the food items that children eat. Could you please tell me which ones of these does your child prefer Carbonated soft drinks 1 Crisps and wafers 2 Fresh fruits 3 Vegetables 4 Chocolates 5 Pre prepared foods 6 Cereals 7 Fast foods like burgers, hot dogs 8 Milk 9 Cheese / butter 10 Ice creams 11 Q5 Are you able to decide the food intake of your child Yes 1 No 2 Sometimes 3 Q6 Do you think that your child is consuming the right amount and kind of food that should be taken for his age Yes 1 No 2 Q7 What do you think are the factors that influence the choice of your child's food Please circle the options given below. Food advertisements on TV 1 Promotions between food items and popular cartoon / film characters 2 Peer pressure 3 The eating habits of parents 4 School meals and vending machines in schools 5 Commercial sites like restaurants, eating joints, food courts 6 Economical stats of the family 7 Working mothers 8 Taste 9 Q8 These days there is a lot of discussion about obesity among children. What in your opinion are the reasons for this Please circle the options you think are reasons for obesity in children Advertisements of food ads 1 Tasty fast foods 2 Pre prepared foods 3 Convenience foods 4 Working mothers with no time to prepare a proper meal 5 Over eating 6 Eating the wrong things 7 No / less physical activity 8 Q9 Who do you think have a key role in helping to reduce obesity in children Please circle the people you think are important and have a role Parents 1 Schools 2 Food manufacturers 3 Government 4 Media 5 Supermarkets 6 Q10 Some people are suggesting that the advertisements of fatty foods influence the choice of the children to a large and significant effect. On the basis of this, do you think that ads of high calorie foods be banned Yes there should be a total ban on these ads 1 These ads should be banned from the children's time bands 2 These ads should be banned on the children specific channels 3 No these ads should not be banned at all 4 Q11 Below are some statements which other people like you have made. Please circle the option that you feel is closest to what you feel. There are no right or wrong answers. We just want to know your opinion. Statement Disagree completely Disagree somewhat Neither disagree nor agree Agree somewhat Agree completely Ads for high calorie foods should be made less attractive to children 1 2 3 4 5 Manufacturers should not make health claims about a food which is high in other ingredients eg- a claim about low sugar when the fat or salt is high Use of cartoon characters in ads for fatty foods should be banned Use of celebrities in ads for fatty foods should be banned DEMOGRAPHIC DETAILS A. Please indicate below the monthly income of your household. When I say monthly income, I mean income from all sources like salaries, rent, interest etc B. Could you please let me know the exact weight of the selected child C. Could you please let me know the exact height of the selected child THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME . FOR MOTHERS OF KIDS IN THE AGE GROUP OF 10 TO 15. NOW COULD YOU PLEASE ASK THE SELECTED CHILD TO ANSWER SOME QUESTIONS GIVEN BELOW I am conducting a survey in understanding food preferences among children. Q1 Please look at the list of foods given below and tell me which of these do you prefer Please circle the relevant option. Carbonated soft drinks 1 Crisps and wafers 2 Fresh fruits 3 Vegetables 4 Chocolates 5 Pre prepared foods 6 Cereals 7 Fast foods like burgers, hot dogs 8 Milk 9 Cheese / butter 10 Ice creams 11 Q2 Please circle the foods that you think are healthy. Carbonated soft drinks 1 Crisps and wafers 2 Fresh fruits 3 Vegetables 4 Chocolates 5 Pre prepared foods 6 Cereals 7 Fast foods like burgers, hot dogs 8 Milk 9 Cheese / butter 10 Ice creams 11 Q3 Given below are some reasons why other kids like you consume fast foods. Please circle the reasons why you consume foods like fast foods, ice creams, chocolates and carbonated drinks TV ads showing delicious foods 1 Desire for the promotion item being given free with the food item 2 My friends eat the same foods 3 My parents eat these kind of foods 4 The taste is so good that I cannot resist 5 Q4 Do you try and reduce your consumption of fast foods Yes 1 No 2 Sometimes 3 FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO HAVE ANSWERED AS 1 OR 3 IN Q4 PLEASE ANSWER Q5 Q5 Why do you try and reduce the consumption of fast foods It makes me become fat 1 It gives me pimples and zits 2 My face becomes too oily 3 They are unhealthy foods 4 They can cause health problems in later life 5 I will not fit into my clothes if I eat too much of junk food 6 THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME APPENDIX I - GRAPHS LIST OF FIGURES PAGE NO. FIGURE 1:ACTIVITIES UNDERTAKEN i FIGURE 2:HOURS OF PHYSICAL ACTIVITY i FIGURE 3:HOURS OF WATCHING TV ii FIGURE 4:TIME OF WATCHING TV ii FIGURE 5:FOOD ITEMS PREFERRED iii FIGURE 6:ABLE TO DECIDE FOOD INTAKE iii FIGURE 7:CONSUMING THE RIGHT AMOUNT iv FIGURE 8:FACTORS INFLUENCING FOOD INTAKE iv FIGURE 9: REASONS FOR OBESITY v FIGURE 10:ROLE IN REDUCING OBESITY v FIGURE 11:BAN ON ADS FOR FATTY FOODS vi FIGURE 12:OPINION - ADS FOR FATTY FOODS SHOULD BE MADE LESS ATTRACTIVE TO CHILDREN vi FIGURE 13: OPINION - MANUFACTURERS SHOULD NOT MAKE HEALTH CLAIMS .. vii FIGURE 14: OPINION - USE OF CARTOON CHARACTERS IN ADS FOR FATTY FOODS SHOULD BE BANNED vii FIGURE 15: OPINION - USE OF POPULAR CELEBRITIES IN ADS FOR FATTY FOODS SHOULD BE BANNED viii FIGURE 16:HOURS OF TV WATCHED AND WEIGHT viii FIGURE 17: PREFERENCE FOR FOOD - AMONG 10 TO 15 YEAR OLDS ix FIGURE 18:HEALTHY FOODS - AMONG 10 TO 15 YEAR OLDS ix FIGURE 19: REASONS FOR EATING FAST FOODS -CHILDREN AGED 10 - 15 YEARS x FIGURE 20: DO YOU TRY AND REDUCE FAST FOOD CONSUMPTION -CHILDREN AGED 10 - 15 YEARS x FIGURE 21: WHY YOU TRY AND REDUCE FAST FOOD CONSUMPTION -CHILDREN AGED 10 - 15 YEARS xi Figure 1: ACTIVITIES UNDERTAKEN Figure 2: HOURS OF PHYSICAL ACTIVITY Figure 3: HOURS OF WATCHING TV Figure 4: TIME OF WATCHING TV Figure 5: FOOD ITEMS PREFERRED Figure 6: ABLE TO DICTATE FOOD Figure 7: CONSUMING THE RIGHT AMOUNT Figure 8: FACTORS INFLUENCING FOOD INTAKE Figure 9: REASONS FOR OBESITY Figure 10: WHO HAS A ROLE IN REDUCING OBESITY Figure 11: BAN ON ADS FOR FATTY FOODS ON TV Figure 12: OPINION - Ads for high calorie foods should be made less attractive to children Figure 13: OPINION - Manufacturers should not make health claims about a food which is high in other ingredients eg- a claim about low sugar when the fat or salt is high Figure 14: OPINION - Use of cartoon characters in ads for fatty foods should be banned Figure 15: OPINION - Use of celebrities in ads for fatty foods should be banned Figure 16: HOURS WATCHED TV AND WEIGHT Figure 17: PREFERENCE FOR FOOD -CHILDREN AGED 10 - 15 YEARS Figure 18: HEALTHY FOODS -CHILDREN AGED 10 - 15 YEARS Figure 19: REASONS FOR EATING FAST FOODS -CHILDREN AGED 10 - 15 YEARS Figure 19: DO YOU TRY AND REDUCE FAST FOOD CONSUMPTION -CHILDREN AGED 10 - 15 YEARS Figure 20: WHY YOU TRY AND REDUCE FAST FOOD CONSUMPTION -CHILDREN AGED 10 - 15 YEARS References Churchill, A. Gilbert Jr. (1991) marketing research Methodological Foundations Fifth Edition. 128 - 158 Read More