Keep your children out of the firing line

Keep your children out of the firing line is a YMA project funded by the Telstra Foundation. The project (sometimes called Through Thick or Thin) aims to raise parental awareness about the impact of television food advertising on children's obesity and overweight, and additionally to offer information about media impact on body image and eating disorders.

Honorary Vice President of Young Media Australia, Liz Handsley, comments: “Childhood obesity is a complex problem, with many different causes and requiring a range of solutions. However, as Australia 's peak body in the field of children and the media, our contribution to the debate is to suggest that the simple step of reducing children's exposure to commercial television will help.”

View, download or order the following Keep your children out of the firing line materials:

Parent brochure

Keep your children out of the firing line (161 Kb)

If you wish to order hard copies of the Parent brochure, please email helpline@youngmedia.org.au (Postage and handling charges may apply)

Parent survey

YMA gratefully acknowledges the support of the SA Department of Health, which provided funding for the detailed data analysis and report production.

Analysis of the parent surveys about Television Viewing and Childhood Obesity has now been completed.

One of its main findings is that parents believe food companies should stop tactics such as movie tie-ins, and cartoon and celebrity endorsements to persuade children to want fast, fatty sugary and salty foods. They are calling for assistance from the Government in tightening up regulations and promoting a more healthy media environment. The survey, which received over 900 responses from parents of preschoolers, found that while Mums decide what their preschoolers can watch most of the time, preschoolers themselves are second most likely to do so, and on Saturday mornings close to 30% of preschoolers are in control of the remote. This is a problem in terms of food ads exposure, because there is no suitable programming for preschoolers on non-commercial free-to-air TV at this time.

Some other key findings include:

69.5% of parents said that their children had asked to buy food as advertised on TV
87.2% of parents said that their children had asked to buy food that has pictures of TV or movie characters on the packaging
82.5% of parents agreed fully or to some extent, that food companies should stop selling unhealthy foods to their children through food advertising
80.1% agreed fully or to some extent that the government should put more controls on TV food advertising to children.

A copy of the YMA’s Full Report is available in PDF Format (200KB)

Keep your children out of the firing line fact sheets PDF Web

Keep your children out of the firing line: television food advertising and childhood obesity / overweight
(132 KB)

Keep your children out of the firing line: strategies for parents to counter television food advertising
(94 KB)

Keep your children out of the firing line: body image problems, eating disorders and media messages
(92 KB)

Infomercial
A three minute segment in which Dr Rosemary Stanton is interviewed on behalf of YMA, by Dr Ross Symons.

Interview played on Good Health TV in June and July 2005

Commercial
Sixty second commercial featuring Benita Collings, ex- Play School presenter.

Played on Good Health TV in the month of September

If you would like to purchase a copy of these resources on video or DVD please email helpline@youngmedia.org.au.