Health policies increasingly focus on prevention so that later there is no need to cure. This is what explains, for example, the awareness campaigns against smoking and in favor of responsible driving. However, it is also logical to think that, just as propaganda can be used to change habits for the better, the opposite can also happen.
And, like many cultural products such as video games or music are frequently accused (unfoundedly) of inducing unwanted behavior, the idea that advertising affects us in ways that go beyond our purchasing preferences does not seem far-fetched. Could it be that advertising spots changed our way of being and did it for the worse?
A recent study indicates that this may be happening with the influence that unhealthy industrial food advertisements have on children.
What does the research consist of?
The research from which this conclusion has been drawn is a meta-study carried out from the analysis of data obtained by 18 already published studies. The team that promoted the study wanted to obtain a global vision of the results reached by other scientists in order to know if unhealthy food advertisements modify the consumption habits of children and adults and thus provide a basis for implementing certain regulations on advertising in case there is an unwanted influence.
Thus, all experimental design studies that were selected for the meta-analysis had to do with the relationship between exposure to industrial food advertisements and food consumption. Thus, Samples from children and adults exposed to advertising about this type of food were used data was collected on the amount of food they ate, and these data were compared with those of individuals who were not made to see this advertising.
The data obtained show that This type of advertising does have a significant effect although small or moderate, in the amount of food that boys and girls eat, while the same does not seem to happen with the adult population.
This reinforces the idea that occasional exposure to food advertising induces children to eat more food, which may have social and political implications.
Do these conclusions make sense?
Actually, yes. Younger people are especially likely to be influenced by all types of stimuli, and this is reflected very well in the way in which they imitate and adopt habits that they see in other people or in fashion trends. Furthermore, although advertisements are designed to encourage the purchase of a specific product, this does not mean that they cannot have a spectrum of possible effects much broader than the simple continued purchase of a single brand, so that minors try to satisfy the needs on which advertisements emphasize through all types of behaviors related (but not the same) to those seen in advertising.
The effects of this do not impact the sales volume of the companies concerned, but they do have an impact on the lives of young people and public health systems. Regulating more by putting greater control over what is shown in this type of advertisement can be complicated, but in light of this data it is a path that could be worth taking, taking into account the omnipresent nature of advertising not only in the television but also on the Internet, a space in which young people thrive like a fish in water.
