Advertising could promote childhood obesity

Health policies are increasingly focused on prevention so that later you do not have to cure. This is what explains, for example, awareness campaigns against smoking and in favor of responsible driving. However, it is also logical to think that, just as propaganda can be used to change habits for the better, the opposite can also happen.

Obese children: what role does advertising play?

And it is that, like many cultural products such as video games or music are frequently accused (unfoundedly) of inducing unwanted behavior, the idea that advertising affects us in aspects that go beyond our purchasing preferences does not seem far-fetched. Could it be that the commercials changed our way of being and that they did it for the worse?

A recent study indicates that this may be happening with the influence that unhealthy industrial food ads have on the little ones.

What does the investigation consist of?

The research from which this conclusion has been drawn is a meta-study carried out from the analysis of the data obtained by 18 studies already published. The team that launched the study wanted to get a global view of the results that other scientists came up with so they could see if the unhealthy food ads modifies the consumption habits of children and adults and thus allow to have a basis to implement certain regulations on advertising in case there is an influence unwanted.

Thus, all the experimental design studies that were selected for the meta-analysis had to do with the relationship between exposure to commercial food advertisements and the consumption of food. In this way, samples of children and adults exposed to advertising about this type of food were used, data was collected on the amount of food they ate, and this data was compared with those of individuals who were not made to see this advertisement.

The results

The data obtained show that this type of advertising does have a significant effect, although small or moderate, in the amount of food that children eat, while the same does not seem to happen with the adult population.

This reinforces the idea that occasional exposure to food advertising induces children to eat more food, which can have social and political implications.

Do these conclusions make sense?

Actually, yes. Younger people are especially prone to being influenced by all kinds of stimuli, and this is reflected very well in the way they imitate and adopt habits that they see in other people or in fashion trends. Also, although the ads are designed so that a specific product is bought, this does not mean that they cannot have a spectrum of possible effects much broader than the simple continued purchase of a single brand, so that minors try to satisfy the needs that the ads emphasize through all kinds of behaviors related (but not the same) as those seen in the advertising.

The effects of this do not have an impact on the sales volume of the companies concerned, but they do have an impact on the lives of young people and on public health systems. Regulating more by putting more control on what is shown in these types of ads can be complicated, but in light of this data it is a path that could be worth exploring. undertaken, taking into account the omnipresent advertising not only on television but also on the Internet, a space in which the most youths.