09 Oct New Research Shows NZ Children are Surrounded by Junk Food Ads
Kids’ Cam researchers are calling for urgent government action to clean up the junk food advertisements surrounding children to help reduce obesity after findings reveal that New Zealand children are exposed to around 27 unhealthy food advertisements per day.
The innovative camera study, conducted by Otago and Auckland Universities, found children were frequently exposed, across multiple settings, to marketing of unhealthy foods not recommended to be marketed to children. Most common were ads for sugary drinks, fast food, confectionery and snack foods, and the most common marketing medium was product packaging followed by signs.
It is concerning that children are now more than twice as likely to be exposed to unhealthy food marketing compared to healthy food marketing. This research suggests that our children live in an ‘obesogenic’ world – one that promotes obesity as a normal response to their everyday environment- and something needs to be done.
View the Kids’ Cam findings here or read the full media release here.