Snack Ads A Health Threat To Thai Children

[george]

Snack ads a health threat to Thai children

BANGKOK: -- Thai academics, nutritionists, and the private sector agreed that Thailand should launch a measure to control advertisement of crispy snacks as a survey showed that snack advertisements during children's TV programme breaks are recorded 42 times per hour, four times higher than in the UK and the US.

The Thai Health Promotion Foundation sponsored a seminar on controlling the marketing of snacks after a survey conducted by the network to promote Thai children to refrain from sweets found that Thai children pay almost Bt135 million a day for snacks and soft drinks.

On average, every Thai child aged 3-12 years old -- about 900,000 children -- pays some 8-10 baht daily for sweets and 5 baht per day for soft drinks on average.

Children's snacks in Thailand are a major market segment, according to the foundation, which said that children's purchases in snacks promoted on advertisement, the country will waste a lot of budget for the treatment of children illness, caused by consuming snacks, according to the seminar.

Asst Prof. Parichart Satapitanon of Chulalongkorn University, Faculty of Communication Arts said regarding the frequency of snack advertisements that among 13 developed countries such as Australia, snack advertisement accounts for 12 times in an hour during children's TV programme breaks.

In the UK and the US, ads are screened 10 and 11 times per hour, respectively. In contrast, snack advertisement in Thailand is as high as 42 times an hour. This may be a world record, she said.

Dr. Prapaphun Jucharoen, a brain expert of Mahidol University said frequent advertisements imprint in children's memories and the pictures of snacks will encourage children to try those snacks. Some snacks with monosodium glutamate will make them addicted.

Free toys also appeal to children to eat more snacks instead of more nutritious food. She also said that watching TV for long hours among children aged under three can also relate to autistic disorder.

--TNA 2007-08-03

[hkt83100]

Some snacks with monosodium glutamate will make them addicted.

I wonder why that stuff (MSG) is still allowed here. It should be blacklisted for causing allergies and serious health problems.

[brahmburgers]

There can't be too much done on fixing the snack-sucking situation here in Thailand - it's such a big topic.

As time rolls by, a greater % of Thai kids will be getting fat, and that's just the tip of the iceburg of ensuing health problems - both physical and psychological (remember the 'Twinkie defence' when a San Francisco supervisor, Harvey Milk, got off easy for murdering a SF polititian when he claimed eating Twinkies impaired his judgement?).

Perhaps one of the best ways to try and influence the sugar-sucking and fat-munching masses is to convince them their physical appearance will deteriorate. Heck, tell them their skin will darken by eating junk, and that might halve junk food sales.

Get youth celebrities involved with a campaign to convince the adolescents that eating junk will make them fatter, will give them acne, ruin their teeth, and have less luck with romance.

And yes, MSG is horrible stuff - but that is just one of a slew of crappy ingredients in snack foods.

Edited August 3, 2007 by brahmburgers

[brahmburgers]

here is a partial list of snacks we either never see - or rarely see in Thailand, except perhaps in a few specialty shops in farang-tourist towns :

- fruit leather

- smoothies with natural ingredients

- figs, kiwi, berries, macadamia, and all sorts of other nuts found in western countries.

- yogurt and yogurt drinks without loads of sugar

- fruit drinks without loads of sugar and corn syrup

- natural peanut butter - or any other nut butters

- raisins, or dried fruit without sugar frosting and sulpher preservative.

- cooked fruit without loads of shortening and/or sweetener

- soy products without loads of sugar

- energy bars, hempbars or hempnuts, pine nuts,

Rule of thumb with Thai snacks: they have to be smothered in oil and/or packed with cane sugar and/or heavily salted. If they use flour, it has to be the most refined, cheapest and least nutritious type.

[cdnvic]

Something tells me that they should be putting a higher priority on reducing choking smog, drunk driving, and low hanging live wires if they really want to make it safer for kids.

[lazeeboy]

Something tells me that they should be putting a higher priority on reducing choking smog, drunk driving, and low hanging live wires if they really want to make it safer for kids.

why not make cool cartoons with hidden messages in them for the likes of fruit and veg , i thought it was cool to eat spinach after watching popeye as a kid ,in the 80s bananaman made banana's popular with kids ,if the stories revolve round coke and fast food them the kids will eat them ......

[jackmuu]

I would say that most aspects of Thai TV will be harmfull to the kids with the dumbing down crappy programs.

[lazeeboy]

I would say that most aspects of Thai TV will be harmfull to the kids with the dumbing down crappy programs.

the problem is that the sellers tell you its part of a balance diet ,what they dont tell you is you should only eat fast food and sweets every now and again .......

[rychrde]

here is a partial list of snacks we either never see - or rarely see in Thailand, except perhaps in a few specialty shops in farang-tourist towns :

- fruit leather

- smoothies with natural ingredients

- figs, kiwi, berries, macadamia, and all sorts of other nuts found in western countries.

- yogurt and yogurt drinks without loads of sugar

- fruit drinks without loads of sugar and corn syrup

- natural peanut butter - or any other nut butters

- raisins, or dried fruit without sugar frosting and sulpher preservative.

- cooked fruit without loads of shortening and/or sweetener

- soy products without loads of sugar

- energy bars, hempbars or hempnuts, pine nuts,

Rule of thumb with Thai snacks: they have to be smothered in oil and/or packed with cane sugar and/or heavily salted. If they use flour, it has to be the most refined, cheapest and least nutritious type.

mmm... actually my 7eleven stocks pretty much all the above, they're just not advertised and don't have garishly bright packaging. the rows of fat and salt-laden snacks win.

and yeah, they could add some more of those short propaganda programmes to children's tv, as they do to the rest of the schedule, neo-soviet style.

Marching munching fatboys will lose their camouflage jacket!

rych

[astral]

Do the 7-11 shops in LOS stock ANYTHING that can really be described as food?

[mikethevigoman]

Snack ads a health threat to Thai children

BANGKOK: -- Thai academics, nutritionists, and the private sector agreed that Thailand should launch a measure to control advertisement of crispy snacks as a survey showed that snack advertisements during children's TV programme breaks are recorded 42 times per hour, four times higher than in the UK and the US.

The Thai Health Promotion Foundation sponsored a seminar on controlling the marketing of snacks after a survey conducted by the network to promote Thai children to refrain from sweets found that Thai children pay almost Bt135 million a day for snacks and soft drinks.

On average, every Thai child aged 3-12 years old -- about 900,000 children -- pays some 8-10 baht daily for sweets and 5 baht per day for soft drinks on average.

Children's snacks in Thailand are a major market segment, according to the foundation, which said that children's purchases in snacks promoted on advertisement, the country will waste a lot of budget for the treatment of children illness, caused by consuming snacks, according to the seminar.

Asst Prof. Parichart Satapitanon of Chulalongkorn University, Faculty of Communication Arts said regarding the frequency of snack advertisements that among 13 developed countries such as Australia, snack advertisement accounts for 12 times in an hour during children's TV programme breaks.

In the UK and the US, ads are screened 10 and 11 times per hour, respectively. In contrast, snack advertisement in Thailand is as high as 42 times an hour. This may be a world record, she said.

Dr. Prapaphun Jucharoen, a brain expert of Mahidol University said frequent advertisements imprint in children's memories and the pictures of snacks will encourage children to try those snacks. Some snacks with monosodium glutamate will make them addicted.

Free toys also appeal to children to eat more snacks instead of more nutritious food. She also said that watching TV for long hours among children aged under three can also relate to autistic disorder.

--TNA 2007-08-03

Good post. get this, my daughter is 5 next month, we had taught her that mcdonalds was junk food and it worked, every time we drove past she would point and say junk food mummy. then guess what happened last week, ronald mcdonald turned up at the school giving away toys etc, yesterday we had a small tantrum whilst driving past she really wanted to go in,,.to say im not happy is an underestatment , i want to talk to the school about it,what do you think ?