--- title: Fast Food Commercials With Toys Work on Kids, Study Finds description: Toy giveaways in fast food ads grab children's attention, study finds canonical: https://time.com/4095517/fast-food-advertising-kids/ author: Jack Dickey article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-11-01T15:03:50.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:57:17.588Z article:section: Health og:title: Kids' TV Ads for Fast Food Work Just As They're Supposed To og:description: Toy giveaways in fast food ads grab children's attention, study finds og:url: https://time.com/4095517/fast-food-advertising-kids/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Kids' TV Ads for Fast Food Work Just As They're Supposed To twitter:description: Toy giveaways in fast food ads grab children's attention, study finds twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Kids' TV Ads for Fast Food Work Just as They're Supposed To ## Video: Know Right Now: High Rates of Fast Food Consumption [Watch (HLS stream): Know Right Now: High Rates of Fast Food Consumption](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/CEIFuLOb.m3u8) (1:01)  _Published 2015-09-16. U.S. kids get 12.4 percent of their calorie intake from fast food restaurants, a new CDC study revealed_  by [Jack Dickey](https://time.com/author/jack-dickey/)  ## Jack Dickey Nov 1, 2015 3:03 PM UTC  by [Jack Dickey](https://time.com/author/jack-dickey/)  ## Jack Dickey Nov 1, 2015 3:03 PM UTC Seemingly confirming the familiar warnings of pediatricians and other researchers, [a new study in the _Journal of Pediatrics_](http://www.jpeds.com/content/JPEDSEmond) finds that fast food commercials featuring toy giveaways led children to ask their parents to take them to the restaurants. And the more the children saw the fast-food commercials, the more frequently they ate fast food. The study, performed by researchers from Dartmouth’s Geisel School of Medicine, focused on the advertising of Burger King and McDonald’s, the two major fast-food brands on ad-supported children’s networks, such as Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network. But the study concerned national advertising from 2009, and the youth-focused marketing practices of fast food have since then improved, by some measures. A [2013 report](http://fastfoodmarketing.org/media/FastFoodFACTS%5FReport.pdf) suggested that both McDonald’s and Burger King had scaled back their marketing toward children. Some practices still raise hackles, however. [Earlier this year](http://blogs.wsj.com/cmo/2015/05/14/childrens-advertising-watchdog-criticizes-mcdonalds-ad/), the Children’s Advertising Review Unit, the regulatory body, reprimanded McDonald’s for a Happy Meal commercial in which a “Teenie Beanie Baby Boo” toy got a third of the screen time. 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