The Yale University Rudd Center for Food Policy & Obesity has released an updated report on food advertising to children and teens that criticizes the fast-food industry for failing to meet its own marketing standards. Funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, “Fast Food FACTS 2013” claims that fast-food restaurants spent $4.6 billion on total advertising in 2012, an 8 percent increase over 2009. In particular, the report notes that even as “older children’s total exposure to fast food TV and internet advertising declined,” “fast food marketing via social media and mobile devices—media that are popular with teens—grew exponentially.” According to the Rudd Center, which reportedly surveyed the menus and marketing practices of 18 top fast-food restaurants in the United States, children aged 6-11 saw 10 percent fewer fast-food TV ads in 2012 compared to 2009, while many chains discontinued popular websites geared toward younger audiences. At the same time,…
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A recent study funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation has claimed that fast food TV advertisements directed at children have allegedly failed to abide by Children’s Advertising Review Unit and Children’s Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative recommendations that food products—as opposed to toys, movie tie-ins and brands—should be the focus of youth marketing messages. Amy Bernhardt, et al., “How Television Fast Food Marketing Aimed at Children Compares with Adult Advertisements,” PLoS One, August 2013. After reviewing all nationally televised advertisements for the top 25 quick service restaurants (QSRs) in the United States, researchers with the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth and Public Health Advocacy Institute reported that 99 percent of the 92 QSR children’s meal advertisements that aired between July 1, 2009, and June 30, 2010, were attributable to either McDonald’s or Burger King. They also purportedly found that—compared with adult advertisements over the same period—visual branding, food…
The American Public Health Association’s 141st annual meeting and exposition is slated for November 2-6, 2013, in Boston, Massachusetts. Expected to attract more than 13,000 physicians, researchers, epidemiologists, and related health specialists, and featuring a myriad of presentations, the meeting will include a session on “Regulating for the Public’s Health: Food and Beverages, Drugs, and Emerging Technologies.” Among the presentations during this session are the legal considerations of antibiotics in food animals, focusing on a court order requiring that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) complete proceedings to withdraw approval of certain antibiotics (presented by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention senior attorney Heather Horton), and “Legal strategies to increase funding and improve the FDA’s authority over food labeling violations and questionable claims” (presented by Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity attorney Jennifer Pomeranz). Pomeranz contends that FDA lacks sufficient authority and funding to address misbranded food products and “[t]he…
A study evaluating “five popular fast-food chains’ menus in relation to dietary guidance” has allegedly concluded that despite varied offerings, full menus “scored lower than 50 out of 100 possible points on the HEI-2005 [Healthy Eating Index- 2005].” Sharon Kilpatrick, et al., “Fast-food menu offerings vary in dietary quality, but are consistently poor,” Public Health Nutrition, January 2013. Researchers with Yale University’s Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity, Arizona State University and the National Cancer Institute analyzed the total nutritional content of menus from Burger King, McDonald’s, Subway, Taco Bell, and Wendy’s using the HEI-2005 to calculate scores for all 12 index components for a total of 100 points. Nine of these components evidently “assess adequacy of amounts of food groups and oils in relation to MyPyramid recommendations, whereas the remaining three are referred to as moderation components because they measure constituents that should be limited in the diet…
Research based on the International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood (ISAAC) Phase Three has reportedly linked fast food consumption to asthma and eczema severity in kids. Philippa Ellwood, et al., “Do fast foods cause asthma, rhinoconjunctivitis and eczema? Global findings from the International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood (ISAAC) Phase Three,” Thorax, January 2013. Analyzing data from more than 319,000 13- to 14-year-old adolescents in 51 countries and more than 181,000 6- to 7-year-old children in 31 countries, the study evidently relied on written questionnaires that asked participants about their asthma, rhinoconjunctivitis and eczema symptoms, as well as their dietary habits. In addition to “a potential protective effect on severe asthma… associated with consumption of fruit ≥3 times per week,” the results allegedly found that children and adolescents who consumed fast food three or more times per week had an increased risk of severe asthma, severe rhinoconjunctivitis…
A recent article in The New York Times has highlighted the efforts of Fast Food Forward, a campaign seeking to unionize fast-food workers in New York City. According to Times labor and workplace reporter Steven Greenhouse, the campaign has worked with 40 full-time organizers with the support of community and civil rights groups to recruit employees at fast-food restaurants across the city and coordinate a walkout in protest of low wages “and retaliation against several workers who have backed the unionization campaign.” In particular, Greenhouse notes the many challenges facing the nascent initiative, which has not yet decided on an overall strategy or mechanism for pursuing unionization. Labor experts and companies also emphasized that the high turnover in most fast-food positions makes organization difficult. “It’s a fairly high-turnover position, so there’s never been a successful union effort,” said one spokesperson for Domino’s Pizza. “People who are doing this part time,…
New York State Senator Gustavo Rivera (D-Bronx) has introduced a bill (S7849-2011) that would require fast-food restaurants offering incentive items, such as toys, with children’s meals to meet certain nutritional guidelines. The standards, designed to limit the amount of fat, sugar, calories, and sodium per meal, would be established by the state health commissioner. “Incentive items” under the proposal, which has been committed to the Committee on Rules, would also include games, trading cards, admission tickets, “or other consumer product, whether physical or digital, with particular appeal to children.” Such items would also include “any coupon, voucher, ticket, token, code or password which is provided directly by the restaurant and is redeemable for or grants digital or other access to any toy, game, trading card, admission ticket, or other consumer product” appealing to children. The measure defines restaurant to include coffee shops, cafeterias, luncheonettes, sandwich stands, diners, short-order cafes, fast-food…
A recent study has reportedly concluded that a New York City regulation restricting the use of partially hydrogenated vegetable oil by all food service establishments “was associated with a substantial and statistically significant decrease in the trans fat content of purchases at fast-food chains, without a commensurate increase in saturated fat.” Sonia Angell, et al., “Change in Trans Fatty Acid Content of Fast-Food Purchases Associated with New York City’s Restaurant Regulation,” Annals of Internal Medicine, July 2012. Funded by New York City and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health Eating Research Program, researchers between 2007 and 2009 conducted a cross-sectional study matching purchase receipts with available nutrition information and consumer surveys at 168 randomly selected locations of 11 fast-food chains. Compared with data gathered before the trans fat restrictions took effect, the information collected after the regulation’s implementation allegedly demonstrated “an associated large and probably clinically meaningful reduction in the…
The Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood (CCFC), Public Citizen and Corporate Accountability International are reportedly urging the PBS network to “end a four-year marketing agreement between the popular children’s show ‘Martha Speaks’ and the fast food chain Chick-fil-A.” The marketing agreement includes 15-second ads for the restaurant before and after the show and in-store giveaways at more than 1,600 Chick-fil-A locations. According to the watchdog groups, “an astounding 56 million Chick-fil-A Kids’ Meals—which contain as much as 670 calories and 29 grams of fat—were distributed in Martha Speaks co-branded bags” in 2011. The groups also called for PBS member station WGBH, which produces “Martha Speaks,” to withdraw the ads from nomination for a children’s marketing award. “PBS deserves lots of awards, but using a beloved character to lure kids to a fast food restaurant is nothing to celebrate,” said CCFC’s Susan Linn. See CCFC Press Release, May 23, 2012.
Corporate Accountability International (CAI) has issued a May 2012 report that purportedly aims “to help parents, community residents, health professionals, activists, youth and others take action to safeguard their communities’ health against the abuses of global fast food corporations.” Outlining four policy approaches intended to reduce the “harmful influence of fast food corporations,” the report advocates (i) school policies that would curb fast food marketing to children, (ii) zoning laws that would reduce industry influence “in communities, hospitals and other institutions,” (iii) limits on “fast food promotions that target children,” and (iv) a reduction in public subsidies “for fast food corporations… as a means of leveling the playing field for businesses that sell healthier food.” To these ends, the report supplies 20 specific action items that call for, among other things, prohibiting toy giveaways in children’s meals and encouraging the Federal Trade Commission and state attorneys general to crack down on…
