Marketing food and drinks to children these days occurs with more than just a few television ads. It involves displays at grocery stores and packaging that directs them to websites where they can play games, win prizes or send e-cards to a friend. Parents also play a big role when it comes to the types of foods because they have seen products on shelves and on TV and they introduce them to their child so they would like it; SpongeBob items and etc. As a result, the messages that companies use for television ads may differ from what they use in the digital media.
Parents who are concerned about their children's eating habits have to understand that you can't just look at what's happening on television. Kids mainly eat what you give them. As a child myself, I see that a lot of product now days have a cool logo on the box or type of design that attracts the eyes of younger kids. My little brother for instance likes sweet cereals and chocolate (unhealthy cereals).
The least-healthy breakfast cereals are the ones most aggressively marketed directly to children as young as age two. The study found that cereals marketed directly to children have 85 per cent more sugar, 65 per cent less fiber and 60 per cent more sodium than cereals marketed to adults. Nineteen brands, which included 47 varieties, were identified as "child brands" because their cereals are marketed directly to children through characters such as Dora the Explorer. Forty-two percent of child-targeted cereals contain artificial food dyes, compared with 26 per cent of family cereals and five percent of adult cereals.The average preschooler sees 642 cereal ads per year on television alone, almost all for cereals with the worst nutrition rankings. The advertised cereal with the worst nutrition score is Reese's Puffs, which is 41 percent sugar. General Mills markets to children more than any other cereal company. Six of the 10 least-healthy cereals advertised to children