A study out of the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity
by Jennifer Harris, John Bargh, and Kelly Brownell has a pretty scary message
for all of us. First, they looked at how
susceptible kids are to food advertising.
They had kids watch cartoons that contained typical 30-second food ads
(or non-food ads as a control group).
While they were watching, there was a bowl of goldfish crackers in front
of them. While watching cartoons with
food ads, the kids ate 45% more goldfish than watching cartoons with non-food
ads. And they had no clue about the
effect. They didn’t realize they had
eaten so much.
Of course, these are kids.
That wouldn’t work with you, would it?
So here is study 2. They had
adults watch a TV documentary that had either snack food ads, healthful food
ads, or non-food ads (control group).
Then they moved them over to a “completely unrelated” study taste testing
various foods. The adults who had been
exposed to the snack food ads ate significantly more of all foods they were
testing. More of the snack foods and
more of the healthful foods. The adults
who had been exposed to healthful food ads didn’t eat more of anything compared
to the control group. So it wasn’t just
that it was good advertising. It was
specifically snack food ads.
But here is the part that I consider a little scary. The adults did not show any awareness of the
effect. They didn’t realize how much
they had eaten. They didn’t see a link
to the ads. They were not more hungry
after seeing the ads. They just
mindlessly ate more. And it wasn’t a
bowl of snacks that we all mindlessly eat.
It was a taste test experiment.
My Take
The libertarian in me would never want to create a nanny
state that outlawed snack food ads. If
you or I want to eat junk food we should have that right. But I also believe in access to
information. My liberty depends on me
having enough information to make an informed choice. That is what liberty really means. So if it is so easy to manipulate us, is that
liberty? Really?
Your Turn
OK, so we don’t want a nanny state but we also don’t want to
be manipulated. What is the middle
ground? For medication ads, they have
those silly warnings at the end (or bottom of the screen) that no one pays any
attention to. There is also research that shows that these kinds of warnings
backfire for a variety of reasons that would be an entire post of their own. “It must taste REALLY good if they need a
warning label.” Or “Do they really think
I am that gullible? To show my autonomy, I am going to go out and eat some of
that RIGHT NOW.” You would be surprised
how big of an effect these have.
So what is your answer?
Any ideas out there?
