ABSTRACT. The purpose of this study is to examine issues put forward by the public health community concerning child-targeted market¬ing practices, the scale of television’s impacts on the obesity wave, and the adverse consequences of unsuitable food marketing on children’s awareness, positions, food choices and consumption. I am specifically interested in how previous research investigated the ability of television watching to affect the quantity of unhealthy food eaten by children, the direct results of food advertising on children’s dietary regime and diet-associated health, and the function of media in childhood obesity. The literature on the relationship between the quantity of time children spend viewing television and their judgments to buy and eat unhealthy food, the effect of regulation and industry self-regulation on moderating children’s vulnerability to the advertising of junk foods and beverages, and the role of their subjection to food advertising in influencing their ordinary dietary consumption is relevant to this discussion. pp. 182–187

Keywords: food marketing; television advertising; childhood obesity

How to cite: Frechette, Steve (2015), “Food Marketing as a Relevant Determinant of Childhood Obesity: The Link between Exposure to TV Food Advertising and Children’s Body Weight,” American Journal of Medical Research 2(2): 182–187.

Received 18 December 2014 • Received in revised form 14 August 2015
Accepted 15 August 2015 • Available online 20 October 2015