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Does the Media Have a Responsibility to Encourage Healthier Nutrition for Children?

Heidi J. Wall
Master of Applied Psychology, Loras College
Intra-Professional Competency
Dr. Lindsey Bartgis
March 10, 2023
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Does the Media Have a Responsibility to Encourage Healthier Nutrition for Children?

There has been a fair amount of recent discussion around the topic of increasing obesity

rates and declining health statistics, specifically as it pertains to children in the United States. It

is my intention to argue that the media shoulders some responsibility in changing that narrative. I

think we can all agree that healthy children develop into healthy adults. It is precisely in that

context we should easily understand that extra efforts toward health in children will have a

bigger and better impact on every stage of development that follows.

The Global Health Observatory, a publication of the World Health Organization, tells us

that nutrition is a critical part of health and development (Global Health Observatory, 2023).

Better nutrition directly relates to improved infant, child and maternal health. Immune systems

are stronger with improved nutrition and there is a decreased risk of non-communicable diseases

(like diabetes and heart disease). Additionally, the report states that healthy children learn better

and people with adequate nutrition are more productive.

Yet, with all that information, our children are not getting healthier. Quite the opposite is

happening, in fact. Data collected in 2020 and 2021 reports that 33.5% of US youth are obese

(Americas Health Rankings, 2023) and these numbers have steadily increased over the past

decades. This discussion will look specifically at how media (TV, film, advertising) impacts the

nutritional habits and choices of children. We will also look at the effectiveness of certain current

initiatives aiming to counter those influences.

This quarter, we looked specifically at how celebrities influence us (Aley & Levine,

2022). While the context of those discussions centered mostly on career choices and work ethic,
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Aley’s article also confirms that characters in the media influence our health. We are also

reminded that social cognitive theory tells us individuals learn by observing others. In this

regard, we should easily understand that the diet and food habits of TV and movie characters

impact the diet and food habits of those watching.

One study from 2022 looked at 10 of the top grossing US films (Turnwald, Horii,

Markus, Crum, 2022) in hopes of determining the significance of food placement and character

diets. Healthy foods were most often placed in the background, serving as decoration more than

menu items. Overall, the study determined that healthy foods were less pleasing to characters,

consumed less frequently and not consumed socially. Unhealthier foods were eaten by the main

characters most often.

This is not entirely a US problem, however. Obesity rates around the world continue to

climb. A 2022 World Health Organization review of obesity finds that, globally, multiple media

formats predominantly promote the unhealthiest of foods (Boyland, McGale, Maden, Hounsome,

Boland, Jones , 2022) those which are high in fat, sugar and/or salt. The researchers present

evidence to demonstrate that marketing is, indeed, impactful on our behavior. It follows, then,

that restrictions in marketing could result in favorable public health consequences.

To that end, some countries have created strategies to combat obesity and change the way

children are influenced by the media. Quebec, for example, upon realizing that consumption of

fast food is directly related to the fact those types of foods are heavily advertised toward

children, implemented a ban on such advertising (Dhar and Baylis, 2011). Their research showed

that the marketing and advertising of fast food geared toward children encourages both an

unhealthy diet and a sedentary lifestyle.

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The United States, opting not to ban, does have a plan in place which aims to discourage

media outlets from targeting children and, in turn, leading them toward unhealthy food choices.

The Children Food Beverage Advertising Initiative, CFBAI, has been in place since 2007 and is

completely voluntary (Better Business Bureau National Programs, 2023). To date, there are 21

restaurants that participate and pledge to do better. Those participants are responsible for most of

the food advertising on Children’s TV programming and set requirements which aim to reduce

the instance of unhealthy food influences in the media.

At the end of the day, why should the media be concerned with how they are impacting

the lives of our children. Their jobs dictate generating profit. Why should anyone expect media

folks to adopt the mindset of an ethical obligation toward helping our young ones get healthy?

Our class discussions around ethics introduced me to the concept of moral humility (Kouchaki &

Smith, 2020). We are all subject to choices in what we do, both in our lives and in our careers.

Media, TV, and advertising folks don’t likely walk around hoping they are successful in

contributing to an ever-more unhealthy population. Maybe it is as simple as putting people over

profits. Shifting a mindset is a powerful thing.

In closing I’d like to iterate that this class teaches us how our early health impacts our

development over our lifetime, that being overweight or obese has detrimental consequences

which carry into numerous aspects of our life. Establishing and creating an ethical responsibility

to help everyone be healthy is the best way to set our course for a better life. No matter our age,

stage in life, or career path, we all shoulder a little bit of that obligation.
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Citations
Aley, M. R., Levine, K. J. (2022) Popular culture at work: how emerging adults’
favorite celebrity can influence career aspirations and work ethic. Atlantic
Journal of Communication, VOL 30, NO. 4, 419-434 

America’s Health Rankings/AHR. (n.d.).https://www.americashealthrankings.org/explore/health-

of-women-and-children/measure/youth_overweight/state/all 

Boyland, E., McGale, L., Maden, M., Hounsome, J., Boland, A., Jones, A. (2022) Wiley Obesity
Reviews, https://dx.doi.org/10.1111/obr.13447

Children’s Food & Beverage Advertising Initiative. (n.d.).

BBBPrograms. https://bbbprograms.org/programs/all-programs/cfbai
Dhar, T. and Baylis, K., (2011) Journal of Marketing Research, VOL. 48, NO. 5, 799-813

Kouchaki, M., & Smith, I. (n.d.). building an ethical career. Harvard Business Review, january-
february. https://hbr.org/2020/01.building-an-ethical-career 

Theme Details. (n.d.). https://www.who.int/data/gho/data/themes/theme-details/GHO/ gho-

nutrition 
Turnwald, B. P., Horii, R. I,, Markus, H.R., Crum, A.J. (2022). Psychosocial context and food
healthiness in top-grossing American films. Health Psychology, VOL 41, NO. 12,
928- 937. https://doi.org/10.1037/hea0001215