Day 054 - 24 Nov 94 - Page 41
1 A. Goldberg & Gorn are researchers who have conducted in
2 the past a number of studies looking at children's food
3 preferences and television advertising. They have sought
4 to look at this in more detail in their studies. On the
5 right hand page of the first page marked 35 at the top,
6 they write: "We conducted two experiments investigating
7 the impact of TV food messages on children's food
8 preferences. The results of the first study suggested that
9 first grade children's short term snack and breakfast food
10 preferences tended to reflect their exposure experience.
11 When they viewed TV commercials for highly sugared foods
12 they opted for more of these. Where they viewed
13 pronutrition, PSAs, public service announcements, they
14 opted for snack and breakfast foods considered higher in
15 nutrative value."
16
17 They go on in a second study they found that by showing
18 children a step by step -- I will read it; it is probably
19 easier: "The child viewer is led step by step to see that
20 too much junk food can lead to unwanted visits to the
21 dentist, feeling weak, losing the football game and losing
22 esteem in the eyes of one's friends to suggest that by
23 eating wholesome food can help one avoid these negative
24 outcomes. Researchers conclude that this programme was
25 successful in changing children's short term food
26 preferences even in the face of typical commercials for
27 highly sugared snack and breakfast foods".
28
29 Further down that page -----
30
31 Q. I was just going to ask about that. What they are saying
32 about junk food there, would you say that is kind of the
33 opposite of what is normally shown as advertisements of
34 what is termed "junk food"?
35 A. Yes, the term "junk food" is used in quotes here.
36
37 Q. So it appears to be an experiment?
38 A. Yes. This was an experimental situation to look at the
39 effect, given that in their first study they found that
40 children's food preferences were influenced by the type of
41 foods that were being advertised, and the more adverts they
42 saw, for example, for highly sugared foods, the more of
43 these they chose; whereas, if they viewed public service
44 announcements that were putting across what one could term
45 a better nutritional view, then they chose more of those.
46 In the second study, they presented what they termed "junk
47 food" with negative connotations. They found that that was
48 effective in changing children's short term food
49 preferences.
50
51 The point that I think I am trying to illustrate here is to
52 show that children's food preferences and choices are
53 influenced by advertising. That could be seen to be
54 nutritionally for the better or nutritionally for the
55 worse. But it would appear from these studies to bear --
56 to depend on the kinds of foods that are being advertised.
57
58 Lower down the page, they quote nutritionist Joann Gadst
59 "who seriously contends that the omnipresence of TV
60 messages for candies heightens their salience". One could
