Only one in 100 kids say the ads influence their eating. For an overwhelming majority it’s flavour that’s all-important, as Liz Hamson reports
“It’s very confusing for children as well as adults and they’re grabbing at simplistic answers.”
So TV advertising is to blame for children eating an unhealthy diet, is it? Not as far as the kids themselves are concerned, according to an exclusive survey conducted for The Grocer. During October and November more than 1,100 children from 50 schools across the country were interviewed by Childwise, the market research company specialising in child research.
They were asked what was most important to them when choosing their food, what they ate for school lunch, who was responsible for choosing their food, which foods they worried about eating too much of, what they thought made a healthy diet and how healthy they thought their diets were.
In a damning indictment of the claims that television advertising is contributing substantially to child obesity, only 1% say persuasive advertising is the overriding factor in their choice of food. A whopping 74% say taste is the most important factor.
As healthy eating is pushed further up the political agenda, the survey highlights the mounting dilemma for manufacturers trying to meet government aspirations while keeping their young customers happy. Childwise research director Rosemary Duff says: “It is very interesting how low the figure for advertising is and I think that kids are genuinely not influenced by it. It might bring a product to their attention - but if it doesn’t taste good, they won’t eat it again.”
She adds bluntly: “There’s no point in developing healthy food that kids don’t want.”
So what, exactly, do they want? The survey paints a depressing, though not entirely surprising, picture of the health of the nation’s youth, with many children admitting to gorging on crisps, chocolate and chips every day yet most (75%) still believing their diets are either “quite healthy” or “okay”.
Forty-six per cent aren’t worried at all about what their diet contains while 16% are unduly worried about nuts because of the media coverage linking them to allergic reactions.
Duff says: “There’s a big difference between their abstract idea of healthy foods and, in practice, the foods they eat. Children are getting a trivialised version of the healthy eating message.
The survey shows, for instance, that almost one in three are unduly worried about high levels of fat in their diet - a figure that jumps to 53% in children aged 11 and 12. Yet nutritionists say fat should not be a key concern for children.
There are also signs that many children have been caught in the “debit and credit” trap of thinking they can offset “bad” foods with “good” food like fruit or a yogurts.
Disturbingly, fewer than half (42%) believe more fruit and vegetables would make for a healthier diet, while only 5% believe more fish would do them good. Just 12% realise that less salt in a diet would be healthier.
Of course, it is not only diet that is a contributing factor to the problem of fat children. A further breakdown of the figures reveals that a paltry 1% of children believe exercise and sport is important to a healthy lifestyle. Yet, Duff points out: “Exercise is critical. Everyone keeps saying it, but it really needs to be hammered home - it’s an area of responsibility that could be put back with the government quite firmly.”
Unfortunately, there are no quick fix solutions - either for kids or manufacturers. “Basically, tastes need to change. Manufacturers need to go back to the baby food stage to re-educate kids’ palates,” says Duff. “They should target the next generation.”
As for this generation, Duff would like to see more taught about nutrition at school. “Nobody is going to achieve anything just by setting rules. It is not enough to say this is what you should eat to have a healthy diet,” she explains. “You have to say: ‘This is how you make a healthy meal’.”
The government also needs to get its message across to parents. Half the time they are the ones responsible for choosing their children’s diets. To get through to them, labelling needs to be much clearer, says Duff.
“The factors that appeal to parents are labelling that contains absolutes such as ‘no added sugar’ and ‘no fat’. They don’t respond to claims that a particular product is ‘balanced’, which does make it hard for manufacturers.”
The good news is that there are sectors out there - the low calorie drinks market for one - that appear to satisfy both camps.
Moreover, with children’s tastes as entrenched as ever, a softly softly approach is the order of the day. In the meantime, the government has made it abundantly clear that a bit of clever marketing will not be enough to meet its expectations.
“It’s very confusing for children as well as adults and they’re grabbing at simplistic answers.”
So TV advertising is to blame for children eating an unhealthy diet, is it? Not as far as the kids themselves are concerned, according to an exclusive survey conducted for The Grocer. During October and November more than 1,100 children from 50 schools across the country were interviewed by Childwise, the market research company specialising in child research.
They were asked what was most important to them when choosing their food, what they ate for school lunch, who was responsible for choosing their food, which foods they worried about eating too much of, what they thought made a healthy diet and how healthy they thought their diets were.
In a damning indictment of the claims that television advertising is contributing substantially to child obesity, only 1% say persuasive advertising is the overriding factor in their choice of food. A whopping 74% say taste is the most important factor.
As healthy eating is pushed further up the political agenda, the survey highlights the mounting dilemma for manufacturers trying to meet government aspirations while keeping their young customers happy. Childwise research director Rosemary Duff says: “It is very interesting how low the figure for advertising is and I think that kids are genuinely not influenced by it. It might bring a product to their attention - but if it doesn’t taste good, they won’t eat it again.”
She adds bluntly: “There’s no point in developing healthy food that kids don’t want.”
So what, exactly, do they want? The survey paints a depressing, though not entirely surprising, picture of the health of the nation’s youth, with many children admitting to gorging on crisps, chocolate and chips every day yet most (75%) still believing their diets are either “quite healthy” or “okay”.
Forty-six per cent aren’t worried at all about what their diet contains while 16% are unduly worried about nuts because of the media coverage linking them to allergic reactions.
Duff says: “There’s a big difference between their abstract idea of healthy foods and, in practice, the foods they eat. Children are getting a trivialised version of the healthy eating message.
The survey shows, for instance, that almost one in three are unduly worried about high levels of fat in their diet - a figure that jumps to 53% in children aged 11 and 12. Yet nutritionists say fat should not be a key concern for children.
There are also signs that many children have been caught in the “debit and credit” trap of thinking they can offset “bad” foods with “good” food like fruit or a yogurts.
Disturbingly, fewer than half (42%) believe more fruit and vegetables would make for a healthier diet, while only 5% believe more fish would do them good. Just 12% realise that less salt in a diet would be healthier.
Of course, it is not only diet that is a contributing factor to the problem of fat children. A further breakdown of the figures reveals that a paltry 1% of children believe exercise and sport is important to a healthy lifestyle. Yet, Duff points out: “Exercise is critical. Everyone keeps saying it, but it really needs to be hammered home - it’s an area of responsibility that could be put back with the government quite firmly.”
Unfortunately, there are no quick fix solutions - either for kids or manufacturers. “Basically, tastes need to change. Manufacturers need to go back to the baby food stage to re-educate kids’ palates,” says Duff. “They should target the next generation.”
As for this generation, Duff would like to see more taught about nutrition at school. “Nobody is going to achieve anything just by setting rules. It is not enough to say this is what you should eat to have a healthy diet,” she explains. “You have to say: ‘This is how you make a healthy meal’.”
The government also needs to get its message across to parents. Half the time they are the ones responsible for choosing their children’s diets. To get through to them, labelling needs to be much clearer, says Duff.
“The factors that appeal to parents are labelling that contains absolutes such as ‘no added sugar’ and ‘no fat’. They don’t respond to claims that a particular product is ‘balanced’, which does make it hard for manufacturers.”
The good news is that there are sectors out there - the low calorie drinks market for one - that appear to satisfy both camps.
Moreover, with children’s tastes as entrenched as ever, a softly softly approach is the order of the day. In the meantime, the government has made it abundantly clear that a bit of clever marketing will not be enough to meet its expectations.
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