Does Advertising on Television Cause Childhood Obesity? A Longitudinal Analysis

Numerous studies finding a relationship between children's television viewing and obesity have led many to argue that advertising "unhealthy" food products causes children to adopt eating habits that lead to obesity This longitudinal analysis of the relationship between television vie...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inJournal of public policy & marketing Vol. 32; no. 2; pp. 185 - 194
Main Authors Beales, J. Howard, Kulick, Robert
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Chicago American Marketing Association 01.10.2013
SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC
Subjects
Advertising
Advertising restrictions
Children & youth
Childrens health
Childrens television
Health behavior
Nutrition
Obesity
Studies
Television advertising
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Summary:Numerous studies finding a relationship between children's television viewing and obesity have led many to argue that advertising "unhealthy" food products causes children to adopt eating habits that lead to obesity This longitudinal analysis of the relationship between television viewing and childhood obesity finds a positive effect in children aged seven years and older but not in younger children. Adding controls for the household environment created by the children's parents reduces the size of this effect. If advertising is the causal mechanism for the relationship, watching programming on television should have a greater effect than watching similar programming on video or DVDs. We find no significant difference in the effects of viewing commercial versus noncommercial television. Moreover, we generally find no significant differences between watching programming for the same intended audience on television or on video. These results suggest that restrictions on advertising may play a limited role in the battle against childhood obesity. Research is needed on the determinants of children's television viewing and how those factors may influence dietary choices.
ISSN:0743-9156
1547-7207
DOI:10.1509/jppm.11.051