How fast food restaurants target children

Restaurants continued to offer large or extra-large soft drinks calories and large french fries calories. In , preschoolers saw 1, fast food ads -- 2. Three-fifths of fast food restaurants increased TV advertising to older children. Three-quarters appeared on kids' websites, such as Nick.

Display ads on youth websites declined by more than half, from million monthly ad views per month in to million in Smartphone apps offer interactive features such as order functions and special offers. Automatically provide healthy sides and beverages as the default kids' meals.

Increase the proportion of lower-calorie, healthier items on their menus and make them available at a reasonable price. Limit advertising on children's TV networks and third-party kids' websites to healthy kids' meals only.

Stop unfair marketing targeted to children, including ads that focus on promotions, not food, mobile advergame apps, and online ads that link to advergame sites. Ensure that preschoolers are not exposed to fast food advertising, especially advertising on Spanish-language TV.

McDonald's is—unsurprinsgly—the biggest culprit. A new study from Dartmouth has determined that pre-school age kids who are exposed to fast food marketing are more likely to want to eat burgers and nuggets.

And, in what turns out to be a related statistic, according to the study, 1 in 5 preschool children in the U. This is the first study to link child-targeted fast food advertisements and an increase in fast food consumption in this age group. Harris said fast food companies must expand healthy options to help meals meet nutritional standards. The report recommends fast food companies improve the overall nutritional quality of meal combinations and stop targeting children with ads that encourage them to eat fast food frequently.

Harris said that children are uniquely vulnerable to advertising because they lack the ability to consider the long-term consequences of eating unhealthy foods. Wilson said he was skeptical that there is a link between fast food advertising and childhood obesity rates.