Top > Webmaster > 2006 > July > 2006-07-25

Kids Exposed to Food Ads on the Web

Recent reports show that the young web users between ages of 2 and 11 are being constantly exposed to advertising brand messages, especially food advertisements. Among other media, this also becomes possible through various children`s games that exist on the Web today.

It was found that 85 percent of the top food advertisers on TV were also using branded Web sites in order to reach the young consumers. Unlike the short TV commercials, kids who visit the Web sites are exposed to the content for an unlimited period of time, which surely affects their perception. Particularly concerning are the "advergames," which are found on more than 70 percent of the Web sites.

Vicky Rideout, vice president and director of Kaiser`s Program for the Study of Entertainment Media and Health, who runs the study said: "Online advertising`s reach isn`t as broad as that of television, but it`s much deeper. Without good information about what this new world of advertising really looks like, there can`t be effective oversight or policymaking, whether by the industry or by government." And the figures of children`s growing obesity truly make the policymaking useful.