A content analysis of health and physical activity messages marketed to African American children during after-school television programming.

Objective: To examine the number of food advertisements African American children are exposed to during children's television programming aired on predominantly African American and general television stations.

Design: A content analysis was conducted to identify and analyze the health-related content (HRC) and physical activity-related content (PARC) of food advertisements shown during children's television programming.

Setting: Three sets of television advertisements from 3 stations (Black Entertainment Television, The WB [Warner Bros], and Disney Channel) served as the sample during a 1-week period in July 2005 (July 11-15), from 3 pm to 9 pm.