How Does Eating Behaviours Influence Food Advertising

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Introduction While multiple factors influence eating behaviours and food choices of youth, two potent forces are television (TV) viewing and exposure to TV food advertising. In the country, children and adolescents watch TV for almost four and a half hours each day. During this time, children between the ages of 4 to 12 are exposed to up to a total of 40 minutes of advertising each day. Food advertising accounts for half of all advertising time in children’s TV programs. Children between 4 to 7 years see 10 food ads and those between 8 to 12 years see 15 food ads each day, or 5,400 ads each year.2 While some data indicate that food advertising to young children has decreased since a peak in 2014, the number of food advertisements and the types of foods advertised remains disturbing. A major determinant of food preferences is taste. Eating habits and taste preference develop early in life and remain relatively stable through young adulthood. As taste preferences are acquired through learning processes including repeated exposure and positive messaging about various foods, exposure to TV viewing early in life can have a marking lifelong influence in…show more content…
Marketers use many avenues to reach children with their messages such as using popular cartoon characters and toy giveaways to increase the pester-power of youth.9-11 Billboards, in-school advertisements, TV commercials, product placement in television shows/movies/video games and in Internet websites and games, and smart phone applications are often used to deliver messages and engage youth. While technology and advertising techniques are changing, television remains the most prominent method of marketing food and beverages to youth, especially for those in early childhood. Annually, the food and beverage industry spends Rs. 1 billion on marketing food and beverages to children under the age of 12

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