If you were born before 1985 this probably tastes like an anxiety riddled trip to the doctor
A new study conducted by researchers from Stoney Brook university and American University's Kogod School of Business has found that all of those fast food positive advertising on television
accomplishes the job it set out to do.
Researcher Cristel Russell, an associate professor of marketing with American University's Kogod School of Business, and her colleague Denise Buhrau, Stony Brook University, surveyed over 1,000 teenagers who reported hours of TV viewing, beliefs about the consequences of eating fast food, and their frequency of fast food consumption. In addition to the finding that the amount of TV exposure influences audiences' beliefs about health risks of fast-food consumption, the study also revealed that heavy TV viewers who rarely ate fast food are especially desensitized to the health risk consequences of unhealthy eating. In contrast, young people who regularly ate fast food had an awareness of the health risks associated with eating poorly. According to the study, the perceived health risks, which are rarely portrayed on TV, increase as direct experience with fast food increases and that direct experience tends to regulate the relationship between TV exposure and risk perceptions.
While this is not a shocking revelation in itself it shows that, no matter how savvy we may think people have become to technology, there's always a very pressing need to educate children on health.