How TV and advertising affect your child's health.

Television appears to be replacing parents as a child's source of health and lifestyle information.

Did you ever call a friend and try to carry on a meaningful conversation, only to hear their television blaring in the background You really wanted to talk about something important, something that was bothering you, or just a problem that had been weighing on your mind. Oh if they would just tun' the volume on the TV down and give me a few thoughtful moments!

Television has certainly become a part of the American culture. Few of us know anyone who doesn't own a TV. How would we get along without one?

Another question Did you ever wonder just what effect TV has on the dynamics of your family's life or even on the minds of your children Well, take this one step further. What effects might the TV have on your health and, more important, the health of your children? This question has inspired quite a bit of research over the past several years.

Hours of Exposure and Marketing

Programming and advertising that is presented on the television is targeted at influencing the thinking of you and your children. Yes, your children. People are trying to mold your children's attitudes so that they will want you to purchase certain products, whether the type of foods they eat or the birthday or Christmas presents you choose.

Today the practice of marketing to the young has become a standard business practice. Television programs are often written for the young audience. Even the commercials shown on such programming are designed to attract the interest of youngsters who then exert a powerful influence on the spending power of their parents. It is interesting that children under 8 years of age can't distinguish the difference between regular programming and commercials.

The typical American home has the television fumed on for an average of seven hours and 13 minutes per day. With improved satellite and cable access, these numbers w ill probably increase. The average 18-year-old has already watched 22,000 hours of television (21 to 23 hours per week), more time than the total hours spent in school (12,000 hours by the end of high school). By age 70 these individuals will have watched the television for between seven and 10 years of their lives During these many hours of viewing people are exposed to 350,000 commercials It is logical to conclude that TV viewing replaces playing studying and reading. In their lifetimes your children will hear more spoken words from the television than they will from you. Your television will have a greater opportunity to influence your children's attitudes toward sex food choices and methods of resolving conflict than you will.

Violence

In the typical American home, children ill view 200,000 acts of violence by the time they are 18 years old This calculates our to nearly 12,000 acts per year, or 1,000 per month. Violence is often seen as a reasonable or suitable solution to problems. Research has shown that increased TV dewing of violent acts is associated with maladaptive and aggressive behaviors. These effects appear to be strongest in single-parent homes.

So when you get a call from your child's school and are told that your youngster just punched someone in the nose you might logically wonder where on earth they learned to solve their problems m such a violent way Though we can't suggest that TV viewing caused this act of violence we can suggest the: there is a strong likelihood that your child was influenced by these media exposures. We think it is fair to say that it all of us grew up in an environment where no one ever punched anyone in the nose, probably probably wouldn't consider this method of resolving our problems when faced with conflict.

Still not convinced about the connection between TV violence and aggressive behavior? In the 1980s there was a small town in Canada that had never before had any television programming because of its remote location. Well, because of satellite technology, they got lucky. Pretty soon TVs were available. With the introduction of the television came an increase in aggressive behaviors noted in the students living there.

Sex

Clearly, parents should be the sex educators of their children. Guess what? They aren't. Research has shown that only one third of parents discuss sex with their kids. So they probably get this instruction at school. But remember, kids spend more time watching TV than attending school. TV exposes children to more than 14,000 sexual situations and countless amounts of innuendo per year. Few of these exposures talk about abstinence or self-control.

On the soap-operas kids are exposed to eight extramarital affairs for every one sexual encounter between spouses. In addition, abortion is discussed far more than contraception. Did you ever hear a TV character talk about contracting the herpes virus or any other sexually transmitted disease? Listen up again--by default and based upon pure hours of exposure, the television is the sex educator of America's children today.

Alcohol

Alcohol advertisements are everywhere. Everyone sees them. The images are thin, athletic, happy young adults enjoying the benefits of alcohol. Children are exposed to thousands of beer and wine commercials every year. In Maryland, researchers found that children were better able to recall brand names of beer than American presidents.

Many alcohol commercials are presented in the context of fast cars and racing events, possibly leaving the mental impression that drinking and driving mix.

Would banning alcohol advertising decrease use? Maybe. In 1970 the Swedish government stopped alcohol advertising. Following this consumption decreased by 20 percent

Tobacco

Since the tobacco industry was banned from television advertising they have financed advertising of their products to the tune of more than $3 billion per year. They have become very creative and successful in their media campaigns. Athletic events are commonly sponsored by tobacco companies, and logos of cigarette brands seem to be everywhere.

A few years back someone actually sat down and counted the number of times the name Marlboro appeared during a one-and-a-half-hour car race, and they timed how many seconds the name. Marlboro actually appeared during that programming. The results were astonishing. The Marlboro logo appeared for a total time of 45 minutes; for half of the length of the car race the name Marlboro was displayed somewhere on the TV screen.

Virginia Slims, a popular cigarette marketed exclusively to women has sponsored athletic events--most commonly women's tennis. The characters portrayed in their advertisements are beautiful and thin young women.

It is illegal to purchase cigarettes unless you are 18 years of age or older In 1991 the R. J. Reynolds Company which produces the Camel brand of cigarettes made only $6 million from sales of Camels to youths under 18 years of age. Sales of Camels to minors represented only 0.5 percent of this under-18 illegal market. Things changed. Joe Camel was introduced. Joe is a cartoon character of a camel who smokes cigarettes. He is quite popular. In fact, Joe Camel became so recognizable that by 1994 the sales of Camels to minors (under 18 years) increased to $476 million. Camels then profited from having one third of the market of cigarette sales to minors.

Researchers wanted to know to what extent Joe Camel was recognizable. They prepared two pictures--Joe Camel and Mickey Mouse. Neither picture contained any names. just the characters. They showed these two pictures to groups of children in several locations across America and learned that Joe Camel was equally as recognizable-able to 6-year-old kids as Mickey Mouse. They also showed these pictures to adults and found that 97 percent of the kids recognized Joe Camel, compared to only 67 percent of the adults. Any wonder why the FDA worked so hard to ban Joe Camel from ads?

Of course, the tobacco industry denies that they advertise to kids. They claim that they advertise only to the over-21 population and don't attempt to persuade people to start smoking, but to get them to remain loyal to their particular brand. Or course, the manufacturers also claim that nicotine isn't addictive. Now, how stupid do they think we are?

There is an abundance of strong evidence that suggests that exposure to the media profoundly affects the health of your children and also of us adults. We must be careful that this "rear influence does not override the precious relationship that we as parent want so much.

Gary Hopkins, M.D., Dr. P.H., is director of the Institute for Prevention of Addictions, Andrews University, Berrien Springs, Michigan.