ublic health experts have been late in waking up and smelling the coffee. A new study from the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows that children do buy advertising - a fact that will be acknowledged by the food industry. The study states that advertising can succeed in getting children to be more physically active.

The study evaluated results of the first two years of the CDC youth media campaign - VERB: It's what you do', (http://www.cdc.gov/youthcampaign) a national mass marketing programme that promoted physical activity among children aged 9-13 years. The programme ran from 2002 to 2006 and reached 17 million children in the US. In addition to television, radio and print advertising, the campaign also used the Internet and school and community based programmes to get the message across to youngsters that physical activity is fun.... more