I love watching Corporate America get all touchy feely.  You know what I’m talking about…when they give money for this and that to benefit whatever.  Especially when its “about the kids”.  You have to be a total idiot to believe they give two flips about children and their well being.  They know that kids are the path to the parents’ pocketbooks.

Padded prepubescent paunches make for a nice day at the office.  Don’t believe me?  Take a look at the commercials on TV.  How many of them are for shit food?  And how many of those are geared towards our kids?  When was the last time you saw a commercial that showed that doing something active was cool?  Sure we see some cool ads but all our kids have to stare at are video game ads, toy ads and fast food plugs.

I watch a fair amount of sports on TV and I always ask my kids if they would like to do whatever I’m watching.  Sometimes its a yes and sometimes its a no.  No problem, but you can bet I’m going to go affter what they think looks interesting.  Do they also ask if we can go to McDs after seeing one of their commercials?  Sure.  Do I as a parent get to say ”Maybe another day” and then try to change the subject.  Absolutely.  Now there of course has to be a balance.  Do I take my kids out to have a little junk now and then?  Of course, but not 4 days a week.

So why this today?  I found this: a study by the University of California - Davis.  They suggest that child obesity is not simply due to too much TV, but the advertising they see on it.  They recorded TV shows and their commercials on American TV during high viewing times (weekday afternoons and Saturday mornings).  They actually pulled from 12 networks, including popular children’s cable channels, mainstream English-language channels, and popular Spanish-language channels.

Here is what they found:

“Of the 5,724 commercials recorded, 1,162 were food-related — and as we’ve seen, young eyes are not the most discriminating when it comes to healthy chow. Overall, almost 1 in 5 commercials advertised a food- or nutrition-related product, and 5.2 food commercials were presented every hour. Of those, more than 70 percent advertised fast-food restaurants, sugary food, chips/crackers, or sugar-added beverages. Some 34 percent were for fast-food restaurants and convenience food.

Children’s networks ran the highest percentage of food-related commercials, which were primarily for high-fat and high-sugar foods. When compared to television for a general audience, the children’s networks in the study exposed young viewers to 76 percent more food commercials. These networks aired approximately 7.7 food-related commercials per hour — about one every eight minutes.

Eighty percent of MTV commercials advertised fast-food restaurants, sugar-added beverages, and sweets. Food advertising in Spanish-language American programming was primarily for fast-food restaurants and alcohol.

Only 1.7 percent of the commercials advertised fruits, vegetables, and juices, and only one nutrition-related public service announcement was present for every 63 food ads.”

Discuss.