Advertise good foods
Kids
who play an online game promoting healthy foods and beverages appear more
likely to choose nutritious snacks than those who play a game promoting
unhealthy products.
A new report into lardy kids points out that obesity
rates among among western kids have soared during the past 40 years. It
said that "One potential contributor to the rise in obesity is media
exposure, primarily because television advertising markets high-calorie
foods and beverages that have little nutritional value.”
While marketeers
have been quick to use the Internet and computer games to advertise food
legal restrictions and regulations are virtually
non-existent. Advergames, online computer games developed specifically to
promote a brand, often featuring logos and characters, are present on many
food and beverage Web sites.
A study of kids who use these games found
that if the kids were “rewarded” for choosing healthy foods, instead of
unhealthy ones, the kids were less likely to be lardy. Tiffany Pempek,
and Sandra Calvert, of Georgetown University, Washington, D.C., said that
the kids liked both games but selected and ate whatever snacks were being
marketed by the advergame, healthy or not.
The findings suggest that public
concerns about online games that market unhealthy foods are justified, the
authors note, but also that the technology could be used to promote
nutritious foods.
They argue that eating patterns established during
childhood affect health throughout the lifespan. Thus, it is important that
we find ways to promote a healthy lifestyle for our children from an early
age, particularly those who come from low-income areas where the risk of
obesity is greatest.