Growers and Grocers

Jack of Fork & Bottle sent me a link to this op-ed piece in the New York Times. The author calls for the government to forbid advertising to children younger than 8 years old. The marketing campaigns encourage kids to eat junk food, which in turn contributes to the high childhood obesity levels in this country. A common response to this argument is that parents, not companies, should be taken to task for giving into the ad-fueled requests of their children. I think it’s the rare parent who can compete against multimillion-dollar advertising budgets. Companies aim for kids because they want the hard-to-overcome brand loyalty that keeps most adults from straying to new products.

I firmly believe that children are, to quote the Times piece, “defenseless against sophisticated barrages from the giants in the food industry.” Maybe the answer is to forbid advertising aimed at children below a certain age. Maybe not. But something needs to be done to counter this.

Who’s to blame? Companies or parents? And what can we do about it? Let me know in the comments.