” Because young children lack the cognitive skills and abilities of older children and adults, they do not comprehend commercial messages in the same way as do more mature audiences, and hence, are uniquely susceptible to advertising influence” ( Dale kunkel, et al, 2004)

Advertising to young children and the food industry that surrounds this has triggered an interest in the subject of children’s eating habits and their contribution to obesity as it is a current topic that is regularly being discussed and debated in the media. One of the most prominent and influential exposures has been the channel 4 series fronted by Jamie Oliver in March 2005 which revealed how little some schools spent on pupils’ meals. On average it was discovered that dinner ladies only had between 35p and 45p to provide a lunch time meal for a child enough for a packet of crisps.

In response to the general outcry generated by the programme the government announced that they would invest an extra 280m, the governments Public Health White paper soon followed, also requiring a change in the nature and balance of food promotion by early 2007. Inline with this, Ofcom intends to have new guidelines in place by mid 2006.

While the discussion was seemingly about school meals the publicity served to highlight further the issue of children’s eating habits in general. As Sonia Livingstone states in the International Journal of Advertising, there has been widespread academic, public and policy concerns regarding the increase in obesity in children in the United Kingdom over the last decade and the possible casual role played by the promotion of unhealthy foods’ to children through the mass media.

The fact that food advertising affects our lives on a daily basis calls for a responsible approach to business and has been particularly loud in the area of marketing to children. In Europe the subject of advertising and promotion to children is one that causes much debate.

The deliberation regarding food advertising to children has two distinct elements. Firstly is the so called moral debate’ which focuses on the ethics of advertising to children and in particular whether these causes increased, materialism, commercialism and increased pester power. Secondly the element of deliberation that this thesis will concentrate on regards the health implications and the increasing attempts to link food advertising with childhood obesity and challenges the advertising of snack food and fast food brands and the levels of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) that is evident within the food industry.