Thinking a little more on yesterdays topic I really took a look at what the kids were doing tonight.  Now I’m not naive enough to believe that hidden messages aren’t everywhere but its interesting to see what actually gets picked up on. 

We got our daughter singing various pop songs (stuff my wife listens to like Lady Gaga and Black Eyed Peas) and then some edgier stuff I like.  Surprisingly, she actually could sing along with a fair amount of words - my personal favorite is when she sings “Give Up The Grudge” by Gob…not bad for an almost 5 year old.

She has no clue what she is saying but she knows it - just like she knows her advertisements.  She was busting out commercials along with the TV from fast food to head ache medicines.  CRAZY.

So what about the carry over…

My kids like to play little educational games online.  Games that help you learn the alphabet, colors, beginner math that sort of thing.  So we’re playing along and then I finally notice it…the ads.  They’ve played these games loads of times and I’ve watched and een I didn’t nnotice but when you do and you ask your child if they know what such and such is they sure know.  Just a reminder to us parents to keep the guards up I guess.

Of course after seeing that I got curious.  Surely someone has studies that…Well gues what, the same University that brought us that study from yesterday also brought us this:

“UC Davis public health researchers have found that children, who are already saturated with television messages about unhealthy food choices, are the targets of a new medium used to sell high-fat, high-sugar foods: advergames.

Advergames are an entertaining blend of interactive animation, video content and advertising, exposing children for extended periods of time to online messages that primarily promote corporate branding and products.

The analysis, published in the May issue of the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior, leads its authors to recommend increased regulation of food companies that target youth.”

“Each site and the pages within those sites were evaluated for strategies used to prolong visits, types and frequency of branding features, and the number and prominence of nutrition and physical activity messages. After assessing 19 websites, 290 web pages and 247 advergames, they found:

- Close to one-third of the advertising that included websites was for food

- The most frequently used strategy to encourage ongoing and return website visits was advergames — 84 percent of the websites assessed included online games

- Every advergame included at least one brand identifier, with logos being the most frequent and direct product representation being the second-most frequent

- On average, only one nutrition or physical activity message appeared for every 45 brand identifiers

“I was astounded by how often logos or actual food products were integrated into the games,” said Culp. “For example, some games used candy or cereal as game pieces. In others, a special code that was only available by purchasing a particular cereal was necessary to advance to higher game levels.”

“There was little messaging about healthier options or even the nutritional content — like fat and sugar values — of the product being advertised. If it was included, it was often buried in the site,” she said. “Advergames are clearly a means of casting food with few health benefits in a positive way and potentially priming kids for a lifetime of unhealthy food preferences.”

“Without effective self-regulation, the federal government should definitely step in and set requirements for food companies that target children. We can’t risk having another generation of youngsters at high risk for the long-term chronic diseases linked to unhealthy eating.”

Discuss.