Happy T.V. Ads and sad sad waistlines.

Obesity is a personal, social, economic, and therefore a national problem. 60 million Americans, 20 years and older are obese that is more than one-third of U.S. adults (35.7%). Medical costs associated with obesity were estimated at $147 billion yearly.  It would be wiser to say that it is THE problem. Obesity can be attributed to many causes, namely, environmental, lifestyle, genes, medical conditions etc. Of the environmental factors, one of particular interest is advertisements of fast-food on TV . The correlation has already been established in case of children and young adolescents. There is ample literature available for anyone to see. Adults are addicted to TV as much as children if not more. So, the effects of TV adverts on adults cannot be ignored. Most adults get glued to their TV around dinner time. Most prime time TV Programs being sitcoms with comedy as their underlying theme, it is a viable relaxation technique, requiring close to no physical activity. Being what it is, it is also a potent concoction granting increase in one’s physical presence in the world, commonly known as obesity.

 Prime time is the block of broadcast programming during the middle of the evening for television programing. The term prime time is often defined in terms of a fixed time period—for example, from 19:00 to 22:00 (Central and Mountain Time). Prime time is the daypart (block of a day's programming schedule) with the most viewers and is generally where television networks and local stations reap much of their advertising revenues. Source- Wikipedia.

Who doesn’t want a good time? Of course we do. But, a careful study of the factors at play during the prime time shifts the focus to THE problem. When we watch TV, (1) we are essentially sedentary; (2) mind is at minimal work- unless you are watching something like Inception. Reading burns more calories, so does playing cards or monopoly (Source-Calorie counter). (3) To make a bad situation worse, TV programs are full of adverts selling fast food, which is another factor for causing obesity. Damage is threefold.

 I wanted to observe the effect of TV and TV ads on myself. I’ll admit sitting in front of TV, I had a good time. I selected two popular TV channels; CBS and TBS for this little observation. I selected one weekday (Thursday) and one weekend day (Saturday). I did not consider any other CBS/TBS program ads as they cannot be counted as purchasable commodity considering that the viewer has already paid to watch the channels. I did count movie trailers though, as a movie ticket/DVD can be seen as a purchasable commodity. Another interesting thing to do might have been the air- time calculation. But, does the length of ad guarantees its effectiveness? What if a particular advert is unusually long? Questions like these spring to one’s mind.

 

Findings

Channel: CBS, Date: 01/10/2013, Time: 7-7.30 pm.
Program: The Big Bang Theory.

Total number of T.V. Advertisements: 20

Adverts of fast food restaurants/processed foods:   8

Percentage of total TV advertisements: 40%

Channel: CBS, Date: 01/10/2013, Time: 7.30-8.00 pm.
Program: Two and a Half Men.

Total number of T.V. Advertisements: 17

Adverts of fast food restaurants/processed foods:   6

Percentage of total TV advertisements: 35.2%

Channel: CBS, Date: 01/10/2013, Time: 8.00-9.00pm.  
Program: Person of Interest.

Total number of T.V. Advertisements: 27

Adverts of fast food restaurants/processed foods:   2

Percentage of total TV advertisements: 7.4%

Channel: CBS, Date: 01/10/2013, Time: 9.00-10.00pm. 
Program: Elementary.

Total number of T.V. Advertisements: 28

Adverts of fast food restaurants/processed foods:   6

Percentage of total TV advertisements: 21.4%

Channel: TBS, Date: 01/12/2013, Time: 7.00-9.00pm. 
Program: The Big Bang Theory (Four 30 minute episodes)

Total number of T.V. Advertisements: 67

Adverts of fast food restaurants/processed foods:   25

Percentage of total TV advertisements: 37.3%

Channel: TBS, Date: 01/12/2013, Time: 9.00-10.00pm. 
Program: The Wedding Band.

Total number of T.V. Advertisements: 33

Adverts of fast food restaurants/processed foods:   11

Percentage of total TV advertisements: 33.3%

In conclusion, why some TV programs get more fast-food ads than other is a mystery to me. Their target audience may be different. There is some difference from program to program, between two channels and between two days of a week. All in all it was a fun observation as per results and as per procedure!