If you haven't watched PBS, Nickelodeon or the Disney Channel lately, a new study says that you may be surprised to see that a significant portion of the advertising, as well as the sponsorships, in the case of PBS, comes from food companies, including McDonald's, Chuck E Cheese, and others. Those who support limiting the "junk food advertising" seen by children are using this as ammunition, saying that children are too young to make "critical judgments about advertising" and that they are heavily influenced by the products they see. In short, they feel that advertising is a leading cause in making children crave high-fat, high-sugar foods and leads to an increased risk of obesity.
The networks, for their part, insist that they have cut back on food advertising and that many ads are not accepted unless they are in some way promoting education, social development or physical activity.
In the past, studies have shown that the average American child from infancy to 6 watches one hour of TV per day, while 8 to 18-year-olds watch 3 hours daily. This means that they could be seeing as many as 40,000 ads. An alternative solution to heavier restrictions on advertising is that the concerned parents behind the study could simply stop allowing their children to watch that much TV. If the numbers drop even by half, they would have that much less to worry about from advertising, no matter what products were being promoted.
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