THE IMPACT OF MASS MEDIA ON DIETARY HABITS OF CHILDREN AGED ELEVEN TO FOURTEEN YEARS – A CASE STUDY

The paper discusses the impact of advertisements on children aged eleven to fourteen years, sent via mass media, especially on the television and the Internet. The paper emphasizes very significant role of parents and educational institutions as well as their pedagogical approach to the increasingly dominating media pressure. The study was conducted on a sample of 166 students at the Zagreb elementary school, among students from the fifth to the eighth grade, aged eleven to fourteen years, of both sexes. The data were obtained by open and closed survey. The questions were analyzed according to the principles of inferential statistics and it turned out that there are no major differences among children, regardless age. Children are great followers of media (especially television and Internet). A large number of students think that advertisements and advertising have no impact on them when choosing dietary habits. However, further questions in the questionnaire prove the contrary, that they choose the products represented on television, pointing to the problem of children’s perception of advertising, their judgment of what is or not a healthy diet. Then, it was observed that children are successful in convincing parents when buying foods, regardless their monthly income. There is also noted the lack of communication between parents and children with slight variations observed among the child’s age, level of education of parents and parents’ employment. It is also important to emphasize the need for media literacy, which should teach children how to analyze advertising messages and increase public understanding of the potential unconscious effects of advertising on them. Public Health Institutions need to be involved in the promotion of proper nutrition, which should be a part of the education of persons involved in the preparation of diet menus and the education of children at a wider level. Therefore, research on the impact of advertising on childrens eating habits should also serve as a guide to creating guidelines for action plans and further strategies for ministries that take care of healthy development and child
development.