Food Marketing to Children and Youth

I've had a chance to scan the IOM report Food Marketing to Children and Youth: Threat or Opportunity.  For those wanting a quick overview, a Fact Sheet is available.  The report makes 10 recommendations that boil down to:

• Industry (including media and entertainment) "should use their creativity, resources and full range of marketing practices" to promote and support more healthful diets for children and youth.
• Everyone (industry, government, public health, etc) should establish and reinforce high standards in marketing food, beverages and meals to children and youth.
• Government and industry should partner to sponsor "[a] sustained social marketing program supporting parents, caregivers, and families in promoting healthful diets for children and youth" [NOTE: as the social marketer, what about "selecting, preparing and serving" - the behaviors?].
• Implement all the "public policy levers to foster the development and promotion of healthful diets for children and youth [Note: how about the "adoption and maintenance of healthy food choices"?].
• Direct research efforts to investigating "how marketing influences the food and beverage choices of children and youth."
• Establish a responsible DHHS agency to monitor and report progress on these recommendations.

Frankly, despite the early alarmist (and expected) reactions of the advertising community, not much is in this report - at least the broad brush strokes - to send people into glee or the doldrums.  Social marketing did gets its due in the Public Policy chapter with this "finding:"  Evidence for the effectiveness of social marketing to promote healthful behaviors is promising but mixed.  It was at the precursor to the Innovations in Social Marketing Conferences that I first called for more outcomes research to document the efficacy of social marketing.  Despite the hand-wringing of some proponents that such studies aren't feasible, practical...[fill in the blank], when the rubber hits the road - as it does in these types of reports - this remains the sticking issue for greater, more unqualified acceptance of the social marketing approach among the policy shapers and makers.  For one example of the type of social marketing research that did get noted in the IOM report, click here for the Team Nutrition Pilot Project.