Personal responsibility huh?

Where are my Food Nazis at ? Whenever I blog about how outrageous it is that Ronald and his chums get to have unrestricted access through Television adverts to your child’s brain, thus explaining the explosion of obesity, the freedom bugle blowers rush in to decry any attempt whatsoever to blame advertising on rising obesity and will mantra chant ‘personal responsibility’ as if that is some type of intellectual QED.

Well the latest research on advertising junk food to children show (shock horror) that junk food advertising is increasingly becoming more and more intrusive.

I get that the right want to leave their precious unrestricted market forces to rape and pillage the world, but their attempt to justify what effectively is junk food producers molesting their children’s minds via TV advertising while their backs are turned seems to be a little thoughtless.


Kids Get Diet Of Junk Food Commercials
In a child's buffet of food commercials, more than 40 percent of the dishes are candy, snacks and fast food. Nowhere to be found: fresh fruit, vegetables, poultry or seafood. For years, health officials have warned that kids were being inundated with commercials about not-so-healthy foods. Now, researchers have put numbers to those warnings in the largest-ever study of commercials aimed at children. The study, the largest ever of TV ads for children, found America's kids are bombarded with commercials for unhealthy foods full of sugar, salt and fat, reports CBS News correspondent Bill Whitaker. Children ages 2 to 7 see an average of 30 hours of such ads a year. Kids 8 to 12 see 50 hours annually, while teenagers see 40 hours every year. "The vast majority of the foods that kids see advertised on television today are for products that nutritionists would tell us they need to be eating less of, not more of, if we're going to get a handle on childhood obesity," said Vicky Rideout of the Kaiser Family Foundation, which conducts health research. Overall, the foundation's researchers monitored 13 television networks. The viewing took place primarily between late May and early September 2005. They saw 2,613 ads featuring food and drinks that targeted children and teens. "Since (preteens) are at an age where they're just becoming independent consumers, understanding what type of advertising they are exposed to is especially important," Rideout said. Of food ads aimed at children, 34 percent were for candy and snacks, 29 percent for cereal, 10 percent for beverages, 10 percent for fast food, 4 percent for dairy products, 4 percent for prepared food and the rest for breads and pastries and dine-in restaurants. In December 2005, the Institute of Medicine concluded that marketing practices from the food and beverage industry are out of balance with recommended diets for children and contribute to an environment that puts children's health at risk. The institute recommended that companies shift their advertising to emphasize food and drink that are substantially lower in calories, fats, salt and sugars.