Behind the Shady World of Marketing Junk Food to Children

[depakid]

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Marketers spend billions attracting kids to junk food they hope will become a lifelong brand attachment. But the effect on kids' health can be costly.

Seven-year-old Marley loves Happy Meals from McDonald's. She used to get Chicken McNuggets, but now she chooses a cheeseburger to go with her fries and Sprite. Her father, Patrick, is a chef, trained at the Culinary Institute of America, but Marley prefers McDonald's to his cooking. After a trip to McDonald's, Marley eagerly surfs onto McWorld.com, where she can enter a code from her meal to get a "behind-the-scenes look at iCarly," a kids' TV show <boys can use their code for a Star Wars promotion>.

Patrick pulled the plug on his television a few months ago, in part to shield his two young daughters from advertising, but the McDonald's marketing execs have reached Marley all the same. Because he's health- and environmentally-conscious, Patrick does not take her to McDonald's often, but after a long day of school and extra-curricular activities, sometimes a little nagging is all it takes for Marley to convince her dad that she's hungry now and only food served at a drive-thru will do.

Marley and Patrick are normal, apart from his cooking skills and their home's lack of TV. Approximately one out of three fast food trips occur due to a child's nagging -- a fact that does not elude junk food marketers, who advertise to kids with the very goal of getting kids to nag their parents for the advertised product.

It's not by accident that foods marketed to children come with toys or in boxes plastered with popular cartoon characters, located strategically at children's eye level. And today's generation is the target of more marketing and more types of marketing than their parents, who didn't grow up with the Internet, iPods or cell phones.

More: http://www.alternet.org/food/146093/behind_the_shady_world_of_marketing_junk_food_to_children

[The_Commonist]

1. Happy Birthday, Happy Meal!

This is a blog posting about a Happy Meal that someone kept around for a year...

http://www.babybites.info/2010/03/03/1-year-happy-meal/

[Flipper999]

2. McDonald's is crack for little kids

I remember craving the junky toys and greasy little salt burgers as a kid. It's rough for parents because lots of kids only like food that's salty, sugary, and/or laden in fat. Slap a cartoon character on the side, and it's all over...

I still eat at a couple of fast foodish places (Chipotle and Chick-fil-a), but I stopped eating at places like McDonald's a while ago after I realized that I felt like crap about 30 minutes after every meal. Bleh.