Ad bans lead to less fast food eating, Quebec study says

In 1980, Quebec imposed legislation that banned advertisements for toys and fast food aimed at children under 13 in print and electronic media. The legislation was the first of its kind.

After studying Quebec households*, Tirtha Dhar and Kathy Baylis found that advertising bans that bar commercials aimed at children resulted in fewer kids eating fast food and kids who weighed less than their national counterparts. Dhar says advertising is more persuasive than informative for children:

“One of the problems with advertising targeting children, and one of the reasons why we need some level of regulation, is because in most cases, children are not really capable of processing information and deciding between fact and fiction.”

*The researchers note that the statistics were from the 1980s and 1990s, before the emergence of the Internet and social media advertising.