Jun 12, 2019
Vidcast: https://youtu.be/wM-_Cv1ZBLY
Kids’ apparel all too often bears food graphics and two-thirds of those images depict unhealthy foods. These are just some of the worrisome conclusions from a University of Michigan study now published in the journal Eating Behaviors.
Developmental pediatricians there investigating the reasons for childhood obesity reviewed nearly 3900 clothing items in the lines of 4 major children’s retailers. One in every eleven items bore pictures of food.
Girls clothing were covered with pastries and other fattening desserts. Boys apparel featured fast foods including burgers, hot dogs, fries, and pizza. Many of the items targeting the youngest kids featured their cartoon characters wolfing down junk food, hungrily eyeing it, or making funny comments about it.
Don’t allow your children’s clothing to suggest unhealthy eating and a general emphasis on junk food to themselves and to their friends. If their clothing must have graphics, how about Minnie beating Daisy Duck on a road run and not stopping to pick up a dozen Krispy Kreme Donuts.
Megan H. Pesch, Tiffany Munzer, Cassidy M. Pont, Clare S. Lauer, Danielle P. Appugliese. Donuts on our daughters: Gender differences in food categories on children's apparel. Eating Behaviors, 2019; 34: 101303 DOI: 10.1016/j.eatbeh.2019.101303
#parenting #obesity #childwear #fastfood