Commercial Television Exposure, Fast Food Toy Collecting, and Family Visits to Fast Food Restaurants among Families Living in Rural Communities.

Objective: To assess the associations between children's exposure to television (TV) networks that aired child-directed advertisements for children's fast food meals with the collection of fast food meal toy premiums and frequency of family visits to those restaurants.

Study Design: One hundred parents of children 3-7 years old were recruited from a rural pediatrics clinic during 2011; families receiving Medicaid were oversampled. Parents reported the child's TV viewing habits and family visit frequency to the fast food restaurants participating in child-directed TV marketing at the time, and their child's requests for visits to and the collecting of toy premiums from those restaurants.

Children's recall of fast food television advertising-testing the adequacy of food marketing regulation.

Background And Aim: In the United States, the fast food companies McDonald's and Burger King participate in marketing self-regulation programs that aim to limit emphasis on premiums and promote emphasis of healthy food choices. We determine what children recall from fast food television advertisements aired by these companies.

Methods: One hundred children aged 3-7 years were shown McDonald's and Burger King children's (MDC & BKC) and adult (MDA & BKA) meal ads, randomly drawn from ads that aired on national US television from 2010-11.

Children's reaction to depictions of healthy foods in fast-food television advertisements.

Importance: Since 2009, quick-service restaurant chains, or fast-food companies, have agreed to depict healthy foods in their advertising targeted at children.

Objective: To determine how children interpreted depictions of milk and apples in television advertisements for children's meals by McDonald's and Burger King (BK) restaurants.

Design, Setting, And Participants: Descriptive qualitative study in a rural pediatric practice setting in Northern New England.

How television fast food marketing aimed at children compares with adult advertisements.

Objectives: Quick service restaurant (QSR) television advertisements for children's meals were compared with adult advertisements from the same companies to assess whether self-regulatory pledges for food advertisements to children had been implemented.

Methods: All nationally televised advertisements for the top 25 US QSR restaurants from July 1, 2009 to June 30, 2010 were obtained and viewed to identify those advertising meals for children and these advertisements were compared with adult advertisements from the same companies. Content coding included visual and audio assessment of branding, toy premiums, movie tie-ins, and depictions of food.

Like parent, like child: child food and beverage choices during role playing.

Objective: To examine food and beverage choices of preschool-aged children.

Design: Semistructured observational study. While pretending to be adults during a role-play scenario, children selected food and beverage items from a miniature grocery store stocked with 73 different products, of which 47 foods and beverages were examined in this analysis.

Use of cigarettes and alcohol by preschoolers while role-playing as adults: "Honey, have some smokes".

Objective: To examine preschoolers' attitudes, expectations, and perceptions of tobacco and alcohol use.

Design: Structured observational study. Children used props and dolls to act out a social evening for adults.