As an Internal Medicine resident, I have taken care of adults across Manhattan, Queens, and the Bronx for the past three years. By doing so, I have witnessed in graphic detail the effects of obesity-related complications such as failing diabetic kidneys, heart disease, and amputated limbs. A recent study translated this loss into epidemic proportions by estimating that excess weight contributed to nearly 500,000 American deaths in 2016 alone. For some, excess weight is a life-long struggle with approximately 70% of adolescents with obesity going on to be adults with obesity. Even more worrisome is a prediction that 57% of today’s children will have elevated body mass index (BMI) by the time they are thirty-five.
While there are many contributors to this problem, we know there is a link between ultra processed products and excess caloric intake among children. Unfortunately, unhealthful foods are heavily marketed to children. Fast food chains spend hundreds of millions of dollars annually on advertising to children age 12 and below. For the companies, these are millions well spent. Product preference among children has been shown to occur with as little as a single commercial exposure and, in turn, influence parents’ purchasing decisions. Very young children are especially susceptible because of their inability to perceive the persuasive intent of the advertising. There is also evidence that food industry advertising disproportionately targets Black and Latine children with the knowledge that these children are more likely to experience higher levels of fast food availability and less access to healthful foods.
New York State has taken steps to curb the dangerous effects of processed foods and added sugars by making it illegal to falsely advertise these foods to consumers as healthy options. However, these measures have not gone far enough to protect New York children from a barrage of highly targeted, unhealthful food advertisements and the harmful effects to which we know they lead. The Predatory Marketing Prevention Act (PMPA), sponsored by New York State Senator Zellnor Myrie and Assembly member Karines Reyes, would help restrict predatory marketing by directing courts to consider whether the advertising targets a child or other vulnerable group in deciding whether the ad is misleading.
The PMPA comes at a time when the landscape of media access to children is changing. Children in the United States spend an average of 7.5 hours each day in front of screens for entertainment. While YouTube banned direct food advertising on kids’ channels in 2020, that has not stopped food companies from using child-influencers to promote their products on mediums such as YouTube and TikTok. In a 2023 analysis of several hundred YouTube videos uploaded by popular child-influencers, branded products appeared up to almost four times per video. The majority of these brand appearances were for candy, sweet and salty snacks, sugary drinks, and ice cream.
The evidence is clear that children are being targeted by food corporations who understand just how effective social media advertising is to this impressionable demographic. Children should be protected from these insidious advertising efforts until they are old enough to understand the nature of these advertisements and make informed decisions about their dietary choices. Supporting the passage of the PMPA will address the food industry’s predatory behavior and acknowledge the long-term, devastating health consequences that these actions can cause.
About Alexandra Coritsidis
Alexandra Coritsidis is a third year Internal Medicine Resident at the Mount Sinai Hospital in Manhattan, NY. She is interested in the management of obesity and the prevention of related chronic diseases such as hypertension and diabetes. She will be pursuing further training in Public Health and Preventive Medicine beginning this July.
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