Study Proves Junk Food Ads Make Kids Eat More Junk Food

Little girl with big burger or sandwich inside mouth

A new study has proven what we already suspected – that fast food ads make kids want to eat fast food.

The study from the US Journal of Pediatrics titled Kids Meals, Toys, and TV Advertisings suggests fast food companies that advertised toys with their meals prompted the kiddies to beg their parents to take them to the restaurants. And the more frequently they see the ads, the more they ate fast food.

The two chains in question, McDonalds and Burger King, showed ads across four US children’s networks, including Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network.

Researchers surveyed 100 children aged between three and seven years along with their parents, who were asked how often the kids watched the TV channels and whether the children asked them to go to the two fast-food chains that advertised on the channels.

“Seventy nine per cent of the child-directed ads from those two restaurants aired on just four children’s networks,” lead researcher Jennifer Emond said.

Researchers found that 37 per cent of parents reported more frequent visits to the two fast food restaurants with child-directed TV ads.

Fifty-four per cent of the children requested visits to at least one of the restaurants, and of the 29 per cent of kids who collected toys from the restaurants, almost 83 per cent requested to visit one or both of the restaurants.

Some of the key contributors to more frequent visits included having more TVs in the house, a TV in the child’s bedroom, more time spent watching the box throughout the day, and more time spent glued to the particularly kid-targeted networks.

These findings also show that children’s food preferences may be partially shaped by a desire for the toys featured in TV ads.

“Our best advice to parents is to switch their child to commercial-free TV programming to help avoid pestering for foods seen in commercials,” Emond added.

You can find the report, Kids Meals, Toys, and TV Advertising here.




Please login with linkedin to comment

Employer Branding Kyle & Jackie O muji santa YouTube

Latest News

Adobe Launches Express Mobile App With Firefly AI
  • Technology

Adobe Launches Express Mobile App With Firefly AI

Adobe has launched a new Adobe Express mobile app, giving users Firefly AI on the go. Adobe Express is the all-in-one AI content creation app that makes it fast and easy for anyone to ideate, design and share standout social media posts, videos, flyers, logos and more. Millions of users around the world are turning […]

ThinkNewsBrands & IMAA Extend News Publishing Education In Brisbane
  • Media

ThinkNewsBrands & IMAA Extend News Publishing Education In Brisbane

ThinkNewsBrands in collaboration with the Independent Media Agencies of Australia (IMAA),  continued the in-person education rollout of the Publishing & News101 learning module yesterday, extending its reach to independent media agencies in Brisbane. That means Queensland has become the second state to benefit from the special in-person training and certification program. The program delves into […]

B&T Chats With Wavemaker’s Provocative Pioneers On Their Cross-Pacific Sojourn
  • B&T TV

B&T Chats With Wavemaker’s Provocative Pioneers On Their Cross-Pacific Sojourn

B&T had the honour of travelling to GroupM’s lush North Sydney offices to chat with Tatiana Patrón and Missie Saroyan, who had travelled all the way from the US to see how we do things down under. Patrón is an associate client investment lead in Wavemaker’s New York office, while Saroyan serves as a programmatic […]

HoMie & Champion Launch “Give One. Get One” Campaign Supporting Youth Homelessness Via Town Square
  • Campaigns

HoMie & Champion Launch “Give One. Get One” Campaign Supporting Youth Homelessness Via Town Square

HoMie, a Melbourne-based streetwear label that supports young people affected by homelessness or hardship, has turned traditional buy-one-get-one-free retail offers on their head with a special promotional campaign developed by Town Square. HoMie has launched ‘Give One. Get One,’ where for every HoMie hoodie purchased for Youth Homelessness Matters Day, fellow streetwear label Champion will […]

Thinkerbell Takes Us Back To Summer In Latest Work For XXXX
  • Campaigns

Thinkerbell Takes Us Back To Summer In Latest Work For XXXX

Lion and Thinkerbell have launched new work for XXXX Summer Bright, reminding everyone that it’s a beer to drink all year round. The idea is now live across social, digital and OOH. It centres on the insight that around here, unlike most places in the world, we only have one season really, summer. So it’s […]

Scroll Media Recruits Costa Panagos From Twitch
  • Advertising

Scroll Media Recruits Costa Panagos From Twitch

Digital publisher network Scroll Media has employed ex-Amazon Twitch gaming executive Costa Panagos (lead image) to strengthen its Scroll Gaming capability. Panagos is highly experienced in game advertising and media sales professional with two years in account management at Twitch and three years in media sales at News Corp, so will bring his extensive media agency […]

Year13, Microsoft & KPMG Australia Launch AI Course For Gen Zs
  • Technology

Year13, Microsoft & KPMG Australia Launch AI Course For Gen Zs

School-leaver service Year13 has launched a new Artificial Intelligence course to upskill young people in AI, made in collaboration with Microsoft and KPMG, at an event to rally industry support behind youth AI fluency. The free online course AI Amplified which is part of Year13’s Academy aims to provide all young people with the opportunity […]

General Motors Snares Heath Walker From Scania
  • Advertising

General Motors Snares Heath Walker From Scania

General Motors has announced the appointment of Heath Walker (lead image) as the new marketing director for GM Australia and New Zealand, effective April 23, 2024. Walker brings a wealth of marketing and communications experience gained from working across various industries, including IT, sporting, and auto – notably Tesla, Nissan and most recently, Scania in […]