Uprising of Advertising: Growing of Childhood Obesity Epidemic throughout television Advertising

Young Kyung Hwang

ESL 102-003

Professor Jeffrey Hickman

21 April 2009

Growing advertisements on television and its

Relationship to the increase in childhood obesity

INTRODUCTION

The exposure of American children and adolescents to television continues to exceed the time they spend in the classroom : 15 ,000 hours versus 12 ,000 hours by the time they graduate . According to recent Nielsen data , the average child and /or adolescent watch an average of nearly three hours of television per day . These numbers have not decreased significantly over the past 10

years . By the time a child finishes high school , almost three years will have been spent watching television . This figure does not include time spent watching video tapes or playing video games . Based on surveys of what children watch , the average child annually sees about 12 ,000 violent acts , 14 ,000 sexual references and innuendos , and 20 ,000 advertisements . Children and adolescents are especially vulnerable to the messages communicated through television which influence their perceptions and behaviors . Many younger children cannot discriminate between what they see and what is real . Although there have been studies documenting some pro-social and educational benefits from television viewing , significant research has shown that there are negative health effects resulting from television exposure in areas such as : violence and aggressive behavior sex and sexuality nutrition and obesity and substance use and abuse patterns To help mitigate these negative health effects , pediatricians need to become familiar with the consequences of television and begin providing anticipatory guidance to their...