Marketing Fast Foods to Children

"I always have trouble remembering three things: faces, names, and-I can't remember what the third thing is." —Fred Allen

"Children are especially vulnerable to the impact of advertising. A recent study out of Stanford University found that one 30-second commercial can influence the brand choices of children as young as 2. Repeated exposures to ads are even more effective. Very young children don't distinguish between a commercial and television programming, and children under 8 aren't able to understand that ads are created to convince people to buy products....

"Society should be supporting parents in their efforts to raise healthy children, not making it more difficult. The United States regulates marketing to children less than most other industrialized democracies. Instead, American children are bombarded by seductive marketing campaigns for soda, candy, flavored French fries, and other foods high in sugar, fat, and salt. Any genuine effort to reduce childhood obesity must attack the problem at its roots. And that means holding the food industry responsible for its role in creating the problem."