Hi All,

On Thursday I had a great interview with Dr. Harris about her work as the Director of Marketing Initiatives at the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity. She and her colleagues conduct research on the effects of food marketing to children and adolescents, and work to create policies that help to limit their exposure. The food industry spends over 2 billion dollars per year on the marketing to children, and as you might have guessed, they are not pushing fruits and vegetables! All of the marketing is junk food, high in fat, sugar, sodium and calories, and they especially target the black and hispanic channels. The internet has added another stream of marketing that is even more subversive than TV, like gaming sites and friending on social media, so that children don’t even realize they are being targeted. It is a serious problem, and The Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity is focusing a lot of attention on educating parents so that they can limit their children’s exposure. If you missed the interview, you can check it out below. It is filled with great information that is important for us all to know.