Michelle Obama is urging unhealthy food companies to stop advertising to children and asked television broadcasters on Wednesday to do more to promote healthy eating.
The White House presented new guidelines on food marketing to invited representatives from the food and media industries, advocates, parents, representatives of the government agencies and researchers.
According to the Associated Press, researchers found that food marketing is a leading cause of childhood obesity. Ads and commercials are influencing kids to beg their parents to eat what they saw on a television screen.
The first lady said there was a "cultural shift" taking a place in America's eating habits. She used examples of salad bars being placed in school lunchrooms and items such as broccoli and whole-wheat pasta being offered on kids restaurant menus.
Although there has been some progress, Obama said there's still work to be done. According to Obama, one in three children in the United States is on track to developing diabetes.
"I'm here today with one simple request and that is to do even more and move even faster to market responsibly to our kids," the first lady said, according to the AP.
According to the AP, the goal of the event is to empower parents instead of undermining them, when it comes to making the best choices for their families. The first lady praised groups and other organizations that have taken steps to ensure children eat healthy.
The first lady thanked Walt Disney Co. for banning junk-food ads from its media channels, websites and theme parks and praised the Birds Eye frozen food company for using characters from the Nickelodeon comedy "iCarly" in promotions encouraging kids to eat their veggies.
"The fact is that marketing nutritious foods to our kids isn't just good for our kids' health, it can also be good for companies' bottom lines," she said. "She said companies can promote and sell healthy foods to kids and stay competitive and profitable at the same time."
Obama, who leads a White House initiative aimed at reducing childhood obesity, is asking that food companies to do more marketing of products with "real nutritional value." She asked media companies to curb the amount of advertising for unhealthy foods in their programming and to use licensed characters popular with kids to promote healthier food.
"I didn't create this issue and it's not going to go away three and a half years from now when I'm no longer first lady," she said.
