UK: Children understand advertising

The Food Advertising Unit of the Advertising Association has published a new study by Dr Brian Young, of Exeter University, of the attitudes and modes of comprehension of children of food advertising. Called ‘Children’s Categorisation of Foods’, it examines the responses of almost 800 children aged 7-13, and finds that

• children are not unduly influenced in their attitudes, knowledge and beliefs about types of food by TV advertising
• the single biggest influence in this area is the child’s parents, followed by school teachers
• children of this age range have a very clear understanding of which foods are traditionally seen as healthy and those deemed to be unhealthy as children get older they know more and more about which foods contain sugar, salt, fat and those which are “bad for your teeth”