he Association of National Advertisers (ANA) recently commended US Senator Tom Harkin in its official blog. Harkin has been campaigning for directing the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to report on the food industry's marketing activities and expenditure targeted towards children. The provision has been included in the Senate Commerce, Justice and State Appropriations bill, which is yet to be passed by the House and Senate, to be followed by the President's signature.

The "obesity epidemic" consuming the US has raised concerns about the exposure that children have to junk food advertising. The IOM (Institue of medicine) Preventing Childhood Obesity Report released in 2004 stated that since the 1970s, the prevalence of obesity in the US has more than doubled for pre-school children aged 2-5 years (5 per cent to 10.4 per cent) and adolescents aged 12-19 years (6.1 per cent to 15.5 per cent), and it has more than tripled for children aged 6-11 years (4 per cent to 15.3 per cent).... more