Feedburner

Out of 3,039 possible kids' meal combinations, only 12 meet the researchers' nutrition criteria for preschoolers. Only 15 meet nutrition criteria for older children.

Teens ages 13-17 purchase 800-1,100 calories in an average fast food meal, roughly half of their recommended total daily calories.

At least 30% of the calories in menu items purchased by children and teens are from sugar and saturated fat.

At most fast food restaurants, a single meal contains at least half of young people's daily recommended sodium.

Most fast food restaurants have at least one healthy side dish and beverage option for a kids' meal, but the healthy options are rarely offered as the default.

Even though McDonald's and Burger King show only healthy sides and beverages in child-targeted advertising, the restaurants automatically serve french fries with kids' meals at least 86% of the time, and soft drinks at least 55% of the time.

Companies facing increasing pressure about portion sizes are renaming, rather than eliminating, their biggest sides and drinks.

At Burger King, a 42-ounce "King" drink is now "large"; a 32-ounce "large" is now a "medium"; a 21-ounce "medium" is now a "small"; and a 16-ounce "small" is now "value."

Forty percent of children ages 2-11 ask their parents to go to McDonald's at least once a week, and 15% of preschoolers ask to go every day. 84% of parents report taking their child ages 2-11 to a fast food restaurant at least once in the past week.

The average preschooler sees almost three ads per day for fast food; children ages 6-11 see three-and-a-half ads; and teens ages 12-17 see almost five ads per day.

Children's food choices are affected by secondhand exposure to ads for foods and beverages targeted to adults.

More than 60% of fast food ads viewed by children were for foods other than kids' meals.

Older children (ages 6-11) are more likely to order an item from the dollar menu or a combo meal (27%) than to order a kids' meal (21%).

Compared with 2007, in 2009 preschoolers saw 21% more ads for McDonald's, 9% more for Burger King, and 56% more for Subway. Children (ages 6-11) saw 26% more ads for McDonald's, 10% more for Burger King, and 59% more for Subway.

Fast food advertising targeting preschoolers focuses on building brand loyalty rather than promoting specific food items.

McDonalds' 13 websites get 365,000 unique child visitors ages 2-11 and 294,000 unique teen visitors ages 12-17 each month. Targeted marketing for fast food starts as young as age 2 through websites such as McDonalds' Ronald.com.

Hispanic preschoolers see 290 Spanish-language fast food TV ads each year. McDonald's is responsible for one-quarter of young people's exposure to Spanish-language fast food advertising.

African American children and teens see at least 50% more fast food ads than their white peers. McDonald's and KFC, in particular, specifically target African American youth with TV advertising, targeted websites, and banner ads.

African American children see nearly twice as many calories as white children see in fast food TV ads every day.

Know Your FACTS

The Food Advertising to Children and Teens Score (FACTS) was developed to scientifically measure food marketing to youth. While young people are exposed to marketing for a variety of food products, fast food was chosen to be evaluated using FACTS because it is the most unhealthy food product marketed to children, other than sugar-sweetened beverages. Fast food is marketed aggressively and relentlessly to children and the amount of money fast food companies spend on youth-targeted marketing exceeds $300 million per year. This has become a serious concern due to the considerable role fast food plays in the diets of young people.

Food marketing to children negatively influences children's dietary intake and contributes to the childhood obesity epidemic. This public health issue was recently recognized in the White House Task Force on Childhood Obesity and in 2006 by the Institute of Medicine and the World Health Organization. Since this recognition, the majority of fast food restaurants have introduced more nutritious options and most are required to post calories on their menu boards. McDonald's and Burger King joined the Children's Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative (CFBAI) and pledged to advertise only "better-for-you" choices to children. Such food industry efforts to self-regulate have been criticized for lenient nutrition standards and failure to fully implement stated goals. Fast Food FACTS was designed to evaluate whether these food industry changes will reverse the unhealthy defaults that exist in the current fast food marketing environment and highlight the changes that are necessary to help reduce obesity in children.

Fast Food FACTS was developed based on the best available science, in consultation with a steering committee of experts in nutrition, marketing, and public health. To explore the study findings with rankings and search tools see the Consumers page. To learn more about the science behind Fast Food FACTS visit the Researchers page and consult the report.

Fast Food FACTS Report
     Executive Summary
     Introduction
     Methods
     Results
     Conclusions
     Appendices
Fast Food FACTS Report Summary
Fast Food FACTS Report Summary Spanish