• Ad Age , Thursday, November 20, 2008 10:30 AM

A study conducted by the National Bureau of Economic Research has determined that a fast-food TV-ad ban for children's programming would reduce the number of overweight children aged 3 to 11 by 18%, and for adolescents aged 12- to 18 by 14%. The study, which was funded by the National Institutes of Health, appears in The Journal of Law and Economics this month.

Data also revealed a more pronounced effect on males than females, Emily Bryson York reports.

"We have known for some time that childhood obesity has gripped our culture, but little empirical research has been done that identifies television advertising as a possible cause," Shin-Yi Chou of Lehigh University, one of the study's authors, says in a statement.

It all comes down to the gatekeepers, responds Ellen Davis, a spokeswoman for the National Council of Chain Restaurants. "We all know that children have strong opinions, but parents make the choices," she says.

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