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Selling Candy to Babies: The Disturbing Link Between Junk Food Brands and Childhood Obesity Posted: 03 Jul 2014 11:50 AM PDT There's a memorable scene in the 2004 documentary Super Size Me in which filmmaker Morgan Spurlock sits down with first graders in Worcester, Mass., and holds up a series of cards featuring the faces of historical figures, such as George Washington, Jesus, and then-president George W. Bush—as well as fast-food icons Wendy and Ronald McDonald. A soon-to-be-published paper by researchers from the University of Oregon, Michigan State University, and Ann Arbor Public Schools Preschool and Family Center reports that children who exhibit higher levels of brand awareness are more likely to be overweight or obese. Dr. T. Bettina Cornwell, a lead author on the paper and a marketing professor at the University of Oregon, says that kids who are overweight are likely to be overweight as adults, so their "first language of food" should be developed by parents leading in healthy practices—not by junk-food marketers. A 2011 study by the same authors found that children who had high brand knowledge tended to prefer foods high in sugar, salt, and fat.

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