Better cereals, worse advertising for kids
Jun 23, 2012, 9:03 AM | Updated: 1:09 pm
The cereal choices available to children are more nutritious than they were a few years ago.
However, a Yale University study says the least nutritious cereals are the ones that run the most advertising.
According to the study by Yale’s Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity, the companies that make the cereals spent $264 million on advertising for children. That’s a 34 percent increase over 2008. The advertising most specifically aimed at kids was for the least-nutritious cereals.
The more nutritious ones were were also advertised, but those ads were targeted at parents.
Almost a third of children in the United States are classified as overweight or obese. The Rudd report is a response to the ongoing discussion about how to handle the situation.
Since the food industry established the Children’s Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative in 2006, some cereal companies have worked to improve nutrition value. This came as a response to a threat of regulation by government agencies.
The first Rudd Report came out in 2009 to measure the effectiveness of different marketing and of better nutrition in children’s foods.
This year’s study is being presented at the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues in Charlotte, North Carolina.
