Advertisers Share The Blame For Fat Kids

Aimed at kids?


Who's to blame for childhood obesity? It's a complicated issue, and there's no single culprit. But surely the advertising community bears some responsibility.

After all, it was creatives who came up with Ronald McDonald, the Twinkie man, that little "magically delicious" leprechaun and so on and so on. By the time a kid is 12, he or she has been literally bludgeoned with ads aimed directly at their stomachs ... and their parents' pocketbooks.

Dan Jaffe, who writes an official blog for the Association of National Advertisers, said today that the industry was being unfairly targeted (click here for his full post):

" ... what concerns me most is that despite all of this positive and progressive action, the advertising industry continues to be targeted as a leading contributor of this epidemic."

Jaffe cites statistics that show the amount of junk food advertising aimed at children has declined. And advertising folks and their clients all say that obesity is a matter of personal choice.

Maybe so.

But if you're working to create demand for a product that's bad for people -- and remember we're talking kids here -- aren't you part of the problem?

I'm not suggesting that ad agencies reject clients who sell junk food. Just don't deny that you're trying to get as many kids as possible to eat as many Twinkies and Happy Meals as they can.

Some other thoughts on this topic:

AdFreak: ANA chews the fat on kiddie obesity
Adrants: Fat kids not advertising's fault
And a post from me from several weeks back: Why the public doesn't believe spokespeople

Technorati Tags: PR, Public Relations, Marketing, Advertising, Junk Food