Fast foods and children

Children are consuming fast foods with more frequency. It is often a part of school lunch programs and some caregivers are providing fast foods or similar foods to the children in care.

Children spend a large amount of their leisure time using various media, including television, DVDs, video games, computer and cell phones. Children hear a great deals about fast foods via television.

Ads not the only way fast food restaurants try to get the attention of customers. Many of them have playgrounds. Many fast foods restaurants have special children’s play areas with climbing tubes, tunnels, ball pits and more.

They have special meals for children and they put toys in the their kids meals. The most popular meals of children at fast foods restaurants include soft drinks, hamburgers, french fries, pizza and fried chicken.

The use of promotional characters that appeal to children’s sensibilities is also a popular tactic. It some cases these are uniquely developed characters, but increasingly food advertisers use cross-promotions with characters from current movies and television shows.
Fast foods and children

Children and Fast Food Advertising

Children have been targeted by soda advertisers since the early twentieth century.

Television greatly expanded the ability of advertiser to reach children, especially on during children programs on saturday mornings, meant that advertisers could market directly to the age group of their choice.

By the 1960s, advertisers had identified children as a separate market, as fast food chains join soda companies in targeting children.

Food advertisements account for well over 50% of all advertisements targeting children on national network and food is the most frequently advertised product category on children’s TV.

In addition to television advertising, fast food chains also created child oriented characters such as Ronald MacDonald and began offering meals made especially for children, such as Happy Meals with toys and the creation of playgrounds for children.

Advertisers are trying to create situations where consumers are constantly exposed to their brand names.

Products are displayed in as many places as possible, whether it is on the grocery store shelf, in a television carton, or on the cover of a book.

Finally, the companies developed movie tie-ins and made special arrangements with theme parks such as Disneyland, which has had long history of selling fast food.

Children themselves have little buying power but they do have pester power. Busy parents simply take the easy way out and give in to children’s constant pestering. In addition, advertisers believe that childhood experiences will be remembered throughout a lifetime.

In United States in early 1991, a study reveled that children watching cartoon shows for a four hour period on atypical Saturday morning were bombarded with total food commercials.

The product advertised were dominated by sugar coated cereals, candy cookies, fruit flavored drinks, chocolate syrup, fast food meals and pizza.

Besides food advertisement, advertisements for fast food chains have strongly increased in the United States and in Europe during last 15 years reaching almost a third of all food advertisements in the United States.
Children and Fast Food Advertising