Have you ever watched the television and saw a commercial for something so delicious looking, that you had to have it the first chance you got? That is you, falling for the food company's advertisement tactics to buy their food. Today’s children, ages 8 to 18, utilize various types of media and spend more time (44.5 hours per week on average) in front of computer, television, and game screens than any other activity in their lives except sleeping. Research has found strong associations between increases in advertising for non-nutritious foods and rates of childhood obesity. Most children under age 6 cannot differentiate between programming and advertising and children under age 8 do not understand the persuasive intent of advertising.
The more time children spend watching the television, the more likely they are to becoming obese. About half of the advertisements children watch, are food related, and about 3 out of 4 food commercials involve foods that are unhealthy. This high amount of unhealthy advertisements, greatly influences preferences, requests and diets. Please visit www.apa.org/topics/kids-media/food.aspx to learn more. If you read this article, you will be able to understand more on how advertisements in the media influences obesity.