Document Details

Publication Title Exploring the link between obesity and advertising in New Zealand

Author First Name Philip J

Author Last Name Eagle, Lynne, Bulmer, Sandy, De Bruin, Anne, Kitchen

Origin/Publisher Journal of Marketing Communications 10, 49-67

Country Specific New Zealand

Issue Food promotion and childhood obesity

Source of Publication Academic Source

Abstract or Full Text Full

Link to Web Site

File Reference

Document Language English

Industry Sector N/A

Date Published Year: 2004 Month: 3 Day:

Editorial

Abstract This paper reviews the debate on the causes and potential solutions to growing obesity and whether there is a proven correlation with advertising, particularly among children. The paper first considers this debate from the context of the burgeoning literature on this topic. The findings from an empirical study with parents of primary age children in New Zealand are then presented. However, any kind of proposed relationship between obesity and advertising tends to be as much emotive as evidential, with for-and-against camps lined up to defend entrenched positions. However, it does
seem fair to argue that, while advertising does present a problem in relation to food selection choice, many other issues, such as peer pressure, quality of life, in-school food services, nearby retail outlets and social class criteria, exacerbate the problem.
Thus, easy solutions based on insufficient evidence that have failed to substantiate causal effects between advertising (ostensibly) directed at children and nutrition can be seen as inequitable and, thus, ineffective in their intended aims. Although here the paper considers the problem from a New Zealand perspective, the findings may have
implications for research elsewhere in the world.

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Publication Title	Exploring the link between obesity and advertising in New Zealand
Author First Name	Philip J
Author Last Name	Eagle, Lynne, Bulmer, Sandy, De Bruin, Anne, Kitchen
Origin/Publisher	Journal of Marketing Communications 10, 49-67
Country Specific	New Zealand
Issue	Food promotion and childhood obesity
Source of Publication	Academic Source

Abstract or Full Text	Full
Link to Web Site
File Reference
Document Language	English
Industry Sector	N/A
Date Published	Year: 2004 Month: 3 Day:
Editorial
Abstract	This paper reviews the debate on the causes and potential solutions to growing obesity and whether there is a proven correlation with advertising, particularly among children. The paper first considers this debate from the context of the burgeoning literature on this topic. The findings from an empirical study with parents of primary age children in New Zealand are then presented. However, any kind of proposed relationship between obesity and advertising tends to be as much emotive as evidential, with for-and-against camps lined up to defend entrenched positions. However, it does seem fair to argue that, while advertising does present a problem in relation to food selection choice, many other issues, such as peer pressure, quality of life, in-school food services, nearby retail outlets and social class criteria, exacerbate the problem. Thus, easy solutions based on insufficient evidence that have failed to substantiate causal effects between advertising (ostensibly) directed at children and nutrition can be seen as inequitable and, thus, ineffective in their intended aims. Although here the paper considers the problem from a New Zealand perspective, the findings may have implications for research elsewhere in the world.