Food companies marketing candy and high calorie products to schools more than ever

Food & Drink Weekly, Sept 29, 2003

Even as they face resistance from parents, food companies are marketing more candy and other high-calorie products to schools than ever before, a new national study says. The study, titled "School Commercialism, Student Health and the Pressure To Do More With Less", is the latest by Arizona State University's Commercialism in Education Research Unit, which studies corporate involvement in schools.

Companies spend billions of dollars influencing the food choices of children, which can be destructive to their health and the quality of their education, says the ASU report. "It's really a bargain with the devil because basically what these districts are doing is selling their students' health," said Alex Molnar, professor of education policy and director of ASU's Education Policy Studies Laboratory.

Candy, snack-food, soft-drink and fast-food companies are among those that market the most in schools, the study found. The marketing ranges from vending machines that display brand names of soda to providing free "education" materials that promote chocolate. One candy company, for example, offered a school geography unit that asked students to locate on a map major cities where the company's candies were made. Some fast-food restaurants sponsor fund-raisers where children work the counter in exchange for giving schools a cut of the profits that night.

However, some parents and school officials are trying to reverse this trend. The ASU study indicates growing resistance among parents to marketing junk food and soda in schools. New York City public schools banned soda and sweets this year, while beginning next year, Los Angeles is eliminating soft drinks from schools.

Critics say getting rid of junk food and soda is unrealistic. Scan McBride, director of communications for the National Soft Drink Association, declined to comment on the study because he had not seen it. McBride said most soft-drink companies also provide water, juice and sports drinks to schools. Obesity is a complex problem that won't be solved by banning soft drinks from schools, he said.