483 Asia Pac J Clin Nutr 2008;17 (3):483-491 Short Communication What’s on Malaysian television? - A survey on food advertising targeting children Tilakavati Karupaiah PhD APD 1 , Karuthan Chinna PhD 2 , Loi Huei Mee BSc 1 , Lim Siau Mei BSc 1 and Mohd Ismail Noor PhD DVM 1 1 Department of Nutrition & Dietetics, Faculty of Allied Health Sciences, National University of Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 2 Department of Statistics, Faculty of Information Technology & Quantitative Sciences, University Technology MARA, Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia The Malaysian government recently introduced a ban on fast food advertisements targeting children on televi- sion. This study reports on data covering 6 months of television food advertising targeting children. Six out of seven of the Nation’s commercial television networks participated (response rate = 85.7%). Based on reported timings of children’s programmes, prime time significantly differed (p<0.05) between weekdays (mean = 1.89 ± 0.18 hr) and weekends (mean = 4.61 ± 0.33 hr). The increased trend during weekends, school vacation and Ramadhan was evident. Over the six-month period, the mean number of food advertisements appearing per month varied greatly between television stations (C = 1104; D = 643; F = 407; B = 327; A = 59; E = 47). Food advertising also increased the most in September (n = 3158), followed by July (n = 2770), August (n = 2431), October (n = 2291), November (n = 2245) and June (n = 2211). Content analysis of advertisements indicated snacks were the highest (34.5%), followed by dairy products (20.3%), sugars and candies (13.4%), biscuits (11.2%), fast food (6.7%), breakfast cereal (6.4%), beverages (4.1%), supplements (0.9%), rice (0.6%), noodles (0.5%), bread (0.3%), miscellaneous and processed foods (0.2%). Paradoxically, we found that the frequency of snack food advertised during children’s prime time was 5 times more than fast foods. The sodium content (mean = 620 mg per 100g) of these snack foods was found to be highest. Key Words: television, advertising, children, food groups, content analysis INTRODUCTION A public policy to ban fast food advertisements on televi- sion for children, was introduced in Malaysia during March 2007. 1 This step is not without precedence as Brit- ain promulgated a phased ban on advertising of food and drink products categorized as ‘High in Fat, Salt and Sugar’ (HFSS) on children’s television (TV) to be fully implemented by the end of 2008. 2 The rationale for these public policies is borne out of concerns over the global obesity epidemic and a link to childhood habits. 3,4 A Con- sumer International report on an extensive 13-country survey consistently found a significant number and con- tent of TV advertising targeting children focused on sugar-dense food products. 5 The concern is that brand awareness fosters preferences for HFSS food choices in early childhood, which is probably linked to the develop- ment of adult obesity. 4-10 In the matrix of multiple factors influencing eating be- haviour and food choices of the youth, food advertising through media is a recognized potent force. 11 This has lead to children becoming an increasingly important mar- ket for food advertisers, with TV the preferred medium to reach them. 4,5,12,13 Children’s food preferences at both brand and category level followed by purchasing and con- sumption habits have been driven by TV food advertis- ing. 14,15 Coon and Tucker (2002) have described 3 scenar- ios of ‘priming’ children via exposure to TV food adver- tising: exposed children will choose advertised food products at significantly higher rates than children who were not exposed, a higher incidence of exposed children attempting to influence food purchases by their parents, and greater requests for specific brands or categories of food products triggered by exposure to greater frequen- cies of the product advertising. 6 Content analysis is a methodology which allows re- searchers to generate objective, systematic, and quantita- tive descriptions of the visual and linguistic elements in TV advertisements. 16 Studies using content analysis of food advertising directed towards children have shown these foods are predominantly in the HFSS group and overall inconsistent with recommended dietary guide- lines. 17-20 We have found no published data to date on the con- tent analysis of food advertising on TV in Malaysia. This Corresponding Author: Dr. Tilakavati Karupaiah, Department of Nutrition & Dietetics, Faculty of Allied Health Sciences, National University of Malaysia, Jalan Raja Muda Abdul Aziz, 50300 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Tel: 92897245/ 7511; Fax: 603-26947621 Email: tilly_karu@yahoo.co.uk ; tilly@medic.ukm.my Manuscript received 9 March 2008. Initial review completed 21 May 2008. Revision accepted 1 July 2008.