Junk Food Advertising Contributes to the Problem of Child Obesity

KPBS | By KPBS Public Broadcasting

Published April 4, 2007 at 9:11 AM PDT

This story was published more than 17 years ago.

Childhood obesity is a rapidly growing problem and it appears that advertising and the media are contributing to this, according to a new study. Children and teens are bombarded with an average of 21

Tom Fudge: A week ago the Kaiser Family Foundation issued a comprehensive report on the content of food advertising that targets kids. Fully one-half of all advertising on children's TV programs are for food products. And among those kid-oriented food ads, nearly three quarters are for candy, snacks, sugary cereals and fast food. An earlier Kaiser Family study, from 2004, that found the more TV kids watch, the more likely they are to be overweight.

Guest

Jim Steyer, CEO and founder of Common Sense Media , a non-partisan, non-profit organization that focuses on the relationship of kids, families, media and entertainment.