For more than 25 years, Quebec has had one of the world's toughest policies on the marketing of products to children. Section 248 of the province's Consumer Protect Act prohibits companies from directing their advertising to anyone under the age of 13, effectively preventing sellers of high-fat or super-sweet junk foods from pitching these foods to kids.

According to 2004 StatsCan data, the prevalence of obese and overweight children in Quebec is lower than in the rest of Canada. Children in Quebec also eat more fruits and vegetables and less fast food than children in provinces where industry essentially polices itself when it comes to advertising to children.

Dr. Dubois is leading a three-year study - funded in large part by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research - of Francophone and Anglophone schoolchildren in Quebec and Ontario to gauge the impact of television and Internet advertising on food consumption and obesity.

The project could not be timelier.

"Many governments are talking about legislation that might ban junk food advertising. But not much work has been done on the reception of ads by the children who are watching. And as for the Internet, there is almost no research," says Dr. Dubois.

While television advertising of junk foods has long been suspected of contributing to childhood obesity, the stakes have been raised by food companies' use of "advergame" Internet sites where children play games while being exposed to promotional messages.

"A commercial on TV is just 30 seconds long, but if you can extend a child's play time on an advergame to half an hour, they will be immersed in the brand," says Monique Potvin Kent, a doctoral candidate working closely with Dr. Dubois on the project.

The obesity epidemic in Canada, which affects more than 500,000 children, obviously involves more than exposure to junk food ads.

"It's a complex problem," says Dr. Dubois. "In the past, children went outside and played with their friends more. Now food portions are bigger. Children have more pocket money and can buy what they like. They eat in restaurants more and parents buy a lot of prepared foods with higher calorie, fat and salt content."

Advertising, however, has a powerful impact on what children want. "You can't underestimate the influence of advertising on children. Our research will show just how much exposure children have to junk food advertising," says Ms. Potvin Kent.

The Study

The three-year project will capture the TV-viewing and Internet-surfing habits of 1,600 10-12 year-old schoolchildren in Quebec and Ontario over a one-week period in the spring of 2009.

The children will be studied in four groups of 400: French-speaking Quebeckers, English-speaking Quebecers, French-speaking Ontarians and English-speaking Ontarians.

Kids will record their TV and Internet habits over a one-week period in a journal. Researchers will record TV broadcasts over that week and check website content to analyze the amount of junk food advertising the children are receiving.

The children and their parents also will fill out questionnaires about their usual TV watching and Internet habits and the foods they usually eat. The kids' height and weight will be measured.

Canadian Institutes of Health Research