Countering Children's Sugared Food Commercials: Do Rebuttals Help?

To assist the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in policy making decisions concerning sugared food advertisements on television, a study was conducted to assess the effects on children of counter advertisements and disclaimers as a means of lessening the undesirable impact of sugared food ads. Approximately 1,200 children, aged 5 to 10 years, indicated their food preferences on a questionnaire consisting of binary choices between a sugared and less sugared food. Three days later, subjects viewed a videotape of a cartoon, interrupted by four advertisements--pairs of sugared food advertisements (with or without disclaimers added), pairs of filler advertisements, or pairs of counter advertisements. The filler advertisements were for nonfood items, the disclaimers applied specifically to the sugared item advertised, and the counter advertisements were informational and motivational, suggesting that other foods are more nutritious. The subjects then repeated the questionnaire. The results indicated that children's food choices were significantly influenced by the advertisements they viewed. In the posttest, children who viewed only sugared food advertisements made less healthful food choices, while children who viewed counter advertisements made the most healthful food choices. Those who saw the sugared food ads with disclaimers made intermediate choices. (HTH)