Nickelodeon Promotes an Unhealthy Choice

            This past weekend, I happened to be watching TV at my uncle’s house with my five-year-old cousin. Due to my sudden interest in starting this blog about the media and portrayal of food in advertisements, I decided to pay extra close attention to the commercials. Gavin, my five year-old-cousin, was watching SpongeBob SquarePants on Nickelodeon, so I figured there I would come across perfect examples of an unhealthy food commercial.

            Sure enough, the second commercial that played was a Lucky Charms cereal commercial, featuring the classic Leprechaun. This advertisement was long, but definitely caught my attention. The eyes on each character were large and captivating. There were so many colors presented throughout the ad and each object portrayed had a glistening glow and sparkle for the magical effect. This cartoon made me feel like a kid again and introduced an element of fun, which was appropriate given the channel and show I was watching with my cousin.

            This show triggered an intense craving for the cereal and enlightened me of my past obsession for Lucky Charms when I was a child. However, I am now educated and smart enough to acknowledge the lack of nutrients within this sugary meal. I am not sure why my parents never discouraged me from eating Lucky Charms; perhaps they were fooled with the nutrient label on the front of the packaging or the fun and playful commercial that shows on nearly every children’s channel. My cousin even got sucked into the magical essence of the commercial and told me how he wished he could be eating that cereal right then. I asked him why he would choose Lucky Charms when he could have an assortment of fruit; he responded with, “I don’t care because it is magic!” This is when I was sure other children would respond with a similar answer because they simply do not know better than to think their meals are magical. It amazes me to first handedly notice the effect that an ad such as Lucky Charms can have on a young individual such as my cousin.

            When I returned back to my dorm room the next day and had free time to explore other opinions on commercials, I came across an article on Santa Clara University’s One Search about Nickelodeon’s junk food ads. I figured this was very appropriate considering my recent experience at my uncle’s house. This article, “Nickelodeon Markets Nutrition Poor Foods to Children” from the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, shows a study that was completed on Nickelodeon’s ads; they found that eighty eight percent of the ads that Nickelodeon shows are considered unhealthy. One of the most interesting facts about Nickelodeon, that the article mentioned, is it is the most frequently watched children’s television station and “has great potential to influence the diets of millions of American children”(48). I could not agree more with that last statement. It is unfortunate that the obesity problems in America are extremely prevalent, yet Nickelodeon does little to fight against poor eating choices.

            This article has two authors: Ameena Batada and Margo G. Wootan. I was able to locate information regarding Batada and Wootan’s backgrounds in the article’s “about the author page.” Batada has her doctorate and masters in Public Health; she currently works at the University of North Carolina. On the other hand, Wootan attended Cornell and Harvard University to earn her B.S and doctorate in nutrition. They are both extremely interested in not only nutrition itself, but also the affects that the media has on our health and choices in life. According to the “about the author page” that is found through the American Journal of Preventative Medicine, “Wootan has testified before Congress and state legislatures and been invited to speak by federal and state agencies including at the National Nutrition Summit, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the National Academies' Institute of Medicine, and the Surgeon General's Listening Session for the National Action Plan on Overweight and Obesity.” Together they published “Nickelodeon Markets Nutrition Poor Foods to Children” which was originally published in 2007. The American Journal of Preventive Medicine publishes about current issues, interests, or concerns- especially in the field of public health. Found in the “about this journal” section, “Papers also address educational initiatives aimed at improving the ability of health professionals to provide effective clinical prevention and public health services.” Therefore, the article makes it apparent that they are mainly appealing to the professional level and individuals with a sufficient amount of knowledge in health.

            The major claim that the authors make in this journal is that companies, such as Nickelodeon, are promoting foods that are unhealthy eating choices. They established their credibility through various statistics. One shocking finding was that out of the twenty one food advertisements found in a Nickelodeon magazine, seventy six percent of the ads were marketing foods with little to no nutritional value (49). In turn, the authors hope that pediatricians and parents will encourage the discontinued usage of junk food marketing to children. “Nickelodeon should establish nutrition standards and apply them to the foods that it allows to be advertised on its television station and in its magazine, as well as for food products and restaurant meals for which it allows the use of its characters”(50).

            In conclusion, I admire the two authors of this article because they are extremely credible and present interesting information on Nickelodeon and their unhealthy marketing approach. I am absolutely convinced that Nickelodeon is unethical and making the wrong decision with their advertising; in relation, other companies are using similar tactics. In my future blog posts, I will be comparing and contrasting two different food advertisements in order to demonstrate how I believe food companies should properly advertise their products.

Works Cited

Batada, Ameena, and Margo G. Wootan. "Nickelodeon Markets Nutrition-Poor Foods to

Children." American Journal of Preventive Medicine 33.1 (2007): 48-50. Web. 15 Apr. 2014.