“The impact of commercial media on the health behavior of children and adolescents ”

“The impact of commercial media on the health behavior of children and adolescents” Dr Abdul-Halim Joukhadar Regional Advisor/ Health Promotion & Education Division of Health Protection and Promotion W H O Eastern Mediterranean Regional Office –Cairo HED@emro.who.int joukhadarA@emro.who.int

Globalization, Media and Mass-communication • Media and mass communication, along with globalization, are : • playing an ever-increasing role in contemporary life, shaping our modern culture. • influencing lifestyles and consumption patterns worldwide. • promoting the homogenization of values and lifestyles among younger generations. • Mass media are to a great extent fueled by commercial enterprises which have as their goals influencing individuals' purchasing decisions. joukhadarA@emro.who.int

Values, lifestyles and global marketing • Values and lifestyles play a central role in the global marketing. • Multi-national corporations track and respond to shifts in the needs, wants, and lifestyles of their target consumers through • Psychometric research • Lifestyle research • Brand image research joukhadarA@emro.who.int

African Football Cup Cairo January 2006 joukhadarA@emro.who.int

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Standardized global marketing= pooling huger resources for marketing • Multi-national companies have adopted standardized global marketing, creating central advertising production banks and guidelines for brand images and promotions, with regionally appropriate advertisements. • This led to pooling huge budget resources for marketing research and advertisement • More aggressive advertising to achieve greater penetration of new markets where regulatory environment is loose or nonexistent. joukhadarA@emro.who.int

Exploiting children’s limited cognitive ability to understand commercial persuasion • The heavy marketing directed towards young people ,especially young children, is driven largely by the desire to build and develop brand awareness and recognition, brand preference and brand loyalty. • Heavy marketing directed to children is exploitative: young children do not yet possess the cognitive ability to comprehend the persuasive intent of advertising joukhadarA@emro.who.int

Use of psychological expertise to market products to young children • An upsurge in the use of psychological knowledge and research: • to more effectively market products to young children to persuade them to want advertised products • to influence parents’ purchasing decisions (Pester power). joukhadarA@emro.who.int

Unfair practices undermining parental authority • Parental authority is undermined by wide discrepancies between what parents tell their children is healthful to eat and what the food and beverage marketing promotes as desirable to eat. • Many parents have limited proficiency in nutrition, while food companies have extensive expertise in persuasive techniques, and huge resources to influence children’s food choices such as cartoon characters, contests, celebrities, and toy give-away. joukhadarA@emro.who.int

Manipulating developmental concerns • Teens want to identify with their peer group and this represents a vulnerability factor. (Adolescence Vol. 33, No. 131). The attraction to prestige brands develops in adolescent years because it's a time when peer pressure and fitting-in are very important. • Adolescents still can be persuaded by the emotive messages of advertising, which play into their developmental concerns related to appearance, self-identity, belonging, and sexuality. • Marketers manipulate Teen's desire to be "cool," to sell their wares, a concept that's been offered to marketers by psychologists. joukhadarA@emro.who.int

Impact of Entertainment Violence on Children • Aggressive attitudes and behaviors are learned by imitating observed models: children learn by observing, imitating, and making behaviors their own. • Although exposure to media violence is not the sole factor contributing to aggression, antisocial attitudes, and violence among children and adolescents, it is an important health risk factor • Over 1000 studies conducted by leading public health figures point overwhelmingly to a causal connection between media violence and aggressive behavior in some children (Congressional Public Health Summit July 2000) • Over 30 years of research, point out that viewing entertainment violence can lead to increases in aggressive attitudes, values and behavior, particularly in children. joukhadarA@emro.who.int

Entertainment violence increases propulsion to violence • Children exposed to violence are more likely to assume that acts of violence are acceptable behavior. • Entertainment violence feeds a perception that the world is a violent and mean place. • Prolonged viewing of media violence can lead to emotional desensitization toward violence in real life. Happy slapping and teacher bating are but examples. • Viewing violence increases fear of becoming a victim of violence, leads to self-protective behaviors and a mistrust of others. joukhadarA@emro.who.int

Video games and violence • Video games that portray violence are an ideal environment in which to learn violence: • They place the player in the role of the aggressor • Reward him or her for successful violent behavior. • Allow the player to rehearse an entire behavioral script, from provocation, to choosing to respond violently, to resolution of the conflict. • Video games have been found to be addictive: children and adolescents want to play them for long periods of time to improve their scores and advance to higher levels. Repetition increases their effect. joukhadarA@emro.who.int

SOCIAL IMPACT OF MUSIC VIOLENCE • In a testimony to the Senate the American Academy of Pediatrics pointed out that during the past four decades, rock music lyrics have become increasingly explicit -- particularly with reference to drugs, sex , violence and even of greater concern, sexual violence. • With the advent of Music TV channels, violent lyrics with sexual connotations, violence, sexism, drug-oriented, or antisocial behavior are transmitted , including scenes that degrade women, • A handful of experimental studies indicate that music videos may have a significant behavioral impact by desensitizing violence and by making teenagers more likely to approve of premarital sex. joukhadarA@emro.who.int

Body image dissatisfaction and advertising • Thinnesshas not only come to represent attractiveness, and to symbolize success, self-control and higher socioeconomic status. The average size of idealized women (as portrayed by super models), has become progressively thinner at 13-19% below physically expected weight. • Researchers suggest that this thin ideal is unachievable for most women and is likely to lead to feelings of self-devaluation, feelings of depression and helplessness. Body image dissatisfaction and eating disorders are more prevalent among females than males. joukhadarA@emro.who.int

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Impact of Food Marketing to Children • The Institute of Medicine of the US National Academies released in December 2005 a report entitled" Food Marketing to Children and Youth: Threat or Opportunity?” The main findings of the report are the following: a) There is strong evidence that television advertising of foods and beverages has a direct influence on what children choose to eat. Food advertising on television can make children crave junk food. joukhadarA@emro.who.int

Impact of Food Marketing to Children b) The dominant focus of food and beverage marketing to children and youth is for products high in calories and low in nutrients, and this is sharply out of balance with healthy diets. c) Marketing approaches have become multi-faceted and sophisticated, moving far beyond television advertising to include the Internet, advergames, strategic product placement, and much more. joukhadarA@emro.who.int

Impact of Food Marketing to Children d) Turning around the current trends in children's diets and in marketing will require strong and active leadership and cooperation, from both the public and private sectors. Industry resources and creativity must be harnessed on behalf of healthier diets for children. These findings are equally valid elsewhere in the world due the increasing influence of globalization and market economy under the ever growing influence of multi-national companies. joukhadarA@emro.who.int

Unhealthy diet and overweight are risk factors • The world health report 2002 describes in detail how, in most countries, a few major risk factors account for much of the morbidity and mortality, and for non-communicable diseases; five of these global risk factors are closely related to diet and physical activity. • Food marketing has been one of the areas of focus of the Global Strategy on Diet, Physical Activity and Health, adopted by the 57th World Health Assembly in May 2004. joukhadarA@emro.who.int

Regulatory environment of marketing food to children • WHO conducted a review in 71 countries on the regulatory environment and identified gaps, specifically in four main areas: • Existing regulations do not recognize food as a category in need of special consideration from a public health standpoint. • There are many differences in the regulatory environment between countries and also wide variations in the degree of enforcement. • While there are plenty of ethically-based guidelines, there are fewer specific restrictions on the timing, content and form of marketing campaigns targeted at children. • Non-traditional forms of advertising targeted at children such as marketing in schools, sponsorship, Internet-based techniques and sales promotions are less regulated than television advertising to children. joukhadarA@emro.who.int

Obesity and chronic disease risk • Food advertisements targeted to children through multiple media channels contribute to children’s choices about foods, beverages, and sedentary pursuits and may have a strong influence on their tendency toward increased obesity and chronic disease risk. • Childhood obesity involves significant risks to physical and emotional health. Overweight or obese teens are increasingly at risk for type-2 diabetes, once called "adult-onset" diabetes and once rare in kids. • Obesity prevention involves addressing the factors that influence both eating and physical activity. joukhadarA@emro.who.int

Percentage of persons 20 years or older who are overweight or obese in selected EMR States ( Stepwise S. System) joukhadarA@emro.who.int

Percentage of students 13-15 years who spent 3 hours or more during a typical day watching TV, playing computer games, chatting with friends or were engaged in other sedentary activities joukhadarA@emro.who.int

Percentage of students 13-15 years at risk of overweight or who are overweight )GSHS data) joukhadarA@emro.who.int

The Global Strategy on Diet, Physical Activity and Health • The Global Strategy on Diet, Physical Activity and Health provides a comprehensive framework for addressing child and adolescent overweight risk factors and identifies 4 strategic areas for action: (a) Education, communication and public awareness:Appropriate public knowledge on the relationship between physical activity, diet and health, on energy intake and output, on diets and patterns of physical activity that lower the risk of non-communicable diseases, and on healthy choices of food items provides a basis of good policy; (b) Marketing, advertising, sponsorship and promotion: Food and beverage advertisements should not exploit children’s inexperience or credulity. Messages that encourage unhealthy dietary practices or physical inactivity should be discouraged, and positive, healthy messages encouraged. joukhadarA@emro.who.int

The Global Strategy on Diet, Physical Activity and Health (c) Labelling:Consumers have the right to accurate, standardized and comprehensible information on the content of food items so that it is conducive to making healthy choices. Governments may require information on key nutritional aspects, as proposed in the Codex Alimentarius Guidelines on Nutrition Labelling. (d) Health claims: As consumers’ interest in health grows, producers increasingly use health-related messages. Such messages must not mislead the public about nutritional benefits or risks. joukhadarA@emro.who.int

WHA Resolution 60.23 (May2007) • The Sixtieth World Health Assembly (WHA60.23) requested the Director General to take the necessary actions to promote initiatives aimed at implementing the global strategy on the prevention of non-communicable diseases with the purpose of • increasing the availability of healthy food, and promoting healthy diets and healthy eating habits, • promoting responsible marketing including the development of a set of recommendations on marketing of foods and non-alcoholic beverages to children, in order to reduce the impact of foods high in saturated fats, trans-fatty acids, free sugars or salt in dialogue with all relevant stakeholders, including private sector parties • building and sustaining contact with the mass media in order to ensure continued prominence in the media of the issues related to the prevention and control of non-communicable diseases. joukhadarA@emro.who.int

Media literacy , regulatory responses and parent responsibility • The health sector should play a leadership role in advocating for comprehensive preventive actions,and regulatory responses promoting healthy diets and physical activity among children and young people. Heath should be put in its rightful place at the centre of further policy development concerning the marketing of food to children. • The educational system should develop appropriate life skills based preventive responses, such as media literacy education, to counter balance the adverse impact of commercial media on the health of children and adolescents. • Parents should be encouraged and empowered to assume their responsibility and contribute actively to reverse the situation through pressuring the food industry to take corrective actions. joukhadarA@emro.who.int

The food and beverage industry , as did the Tobacco industry , will continue to argue that advertising does not influence the dietary behavior of children and young people, then why are they spending billions of dollars on advertisement to promote products of low quality nutrition? • Neither multi-nationals are stupid to spend such colossal amounts on publicity, nor are consumers stupid to believe them !!! joukhadarA@emro.who.int

“The impact of commercial media on the health behavior of children and adolescents ”