California's kids are overexposed to ads for alcohol, tobacco and junk food. That's according to a new survey from public health departments throughout the state. They sent hundreds of teens and young adults to thousands of corner stores throughout the state to record what kinds of products and advertising they find.
Twenty-two year old Luisa Sicairos saw shelves lined with products like marshmallow-flavored vodka, fried chips, and plenty of sugary drinks in her neighborhood in San Francisco. She says the young, slim models that appear in ads next to these products and on the labels send a mixed message.
“It's still bombarding us with all this stuff on how we should look, and then they're saying, oh, but you should be drinking soda,” she says.
The survey, released Wednesday, found that 37 percent of stores visited placed ads for alcohol next to candy, toys, or at eye level of a five-year-old child. Three-quarters of the stores are located within two blocks of a school and sell mint or candy-flavored tobacco products.
“They have nicotine as bubble gum,” says San Francisco public health officer Tomas Aragon says this is unacceptable. “Our youth are being targeted, and so we have to fight back.”