Throughout my education, only
once did I ever encounter a professor with a marked and intense
“liberal bias.” Her hobby horse was banning
junk food advertising to children, and sometimes adults too
(just for good measure). She routinely brought in papers or people
from the Center for Science in the Public Interest—the most
disingenuous and biggest public health nanny organization of which
I’m aware—on the need to force companies to promote healthier food
for kids. My professor was nothing but fair with my grades, but it
was also clear she thought I was an idiot.
I bring this up merely to frame my glee at this new study, which
shows healthy
fast food advertising to kids largely fails. “Since 2009,
quick-service restaurant chains, or fast-food companies, have
agreed to depict healthy foods in their advertising targeted at
children,” the study, published in Jama Pediatrics, notes.
So researchers set out to determine how children interpreted these
ads.
They showed 99 children, ages three to seven years old, still
images from McDonald’s and Burger King advertising featuring milk
and apples. Children were asked what they saw “and not prompted to
respond specifically to any aspect of the images.” The
results?
- 81 percent recalled seeing french fries in the Burger King ad,
although neither ad featured fries - 10 percent identified apples in the Burger King and 70 percent
identified milk - 80 percent mentioned apples for the McDonald’s ad and 52
percent mentioned milk
“Of the 4 healthy food images, only depiction of apples by
McDonald’s was communicated adequately to the target audience,”
note the researchers. One might think this would be evidence that
requiring healthy food advertising to children is sort of a
pointless proposition.
The study authors, however, see it as an issue of deceptive
advertising. “Televised depictions of apple slices by BK misled the
children in this study, although no action was taken by government
or self-regulatory bodies,” they conclude.
But the “misleading” depiction of Burger King’s apples is
actually an accurate depiction of what the kids meal apples look
like—skinless, fry shaped, and served in what’s generally thought
of as a fry container. Burger King even calls them “apple fries.” I
think we can surmise that Burger King did this in an attempt to
make apple slices more appealing for children, instead of the
dreaded “health food” option. Studies have shown that adults are
more likely to choose healthy fast food options when they’re not
packaged or framed that way.
With the apple fries, Burger King seems to have executed this
“nudge” quite well. In fact, it’s exactly the kind of thing public
health agencies and advocates generally encourage: making health
food look more like junk food to make it more appealing for kids.
It’s why hip baby carrot packages are taking over grocery stores.
Apparently, Burger King did it too well?
If children see fast food apples and register fries, it’s
probably based on their experiences eating at fast food
restaurants. Maybe their parents always order them the fries. Maybe
their parents are brilliant and have convinced them apples really
are fries. The point is it’s strange to expect restaurant
advertising to override associations forged by kids’ actual
lives.
The study’s lead author laments that the fast food industry
spends millions on “ads that aim to develop brand awareness and
preferences in children who can’t even read or write, much less
think critically about what is being presented.” But you know who
should be able to think critically? These children’s parents. Who
happen to be the ones holding the proverbial pursestrings and
actually making the family’s food decisions.
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