A Content Analysis on the Nutritional Portrait of the Breakfast Cereal Television Advertisements

Childhood obesity and related health problems are affecting millions of children worldwide. Recent studies indicate that food/beverage TV commercials are one of the contributing factors of rising obesity rates. In the States, where the obesity rate is high, there has been a public outcry for more stringent rules regulating food related TV ads. This study investigates breakfast cereal ads which were derived from more than 1600 hours of television programming. Cereal ads were selected for this investigation particularly because they have to include an image of healthy, balanced breakfast. The results of analysis shows that these so-called healthy images of breakfast have little or no impact in terms of preventing childhood obesity since these images portray a very calorie-rich breakfast. One of the aims of this study to point out the great responsibility of the early childhood teachers in terms of assisting parents' and children's understanding of the commercial intent