Another excerpt from the f.a.c.t.s. report on childhood obesity from the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at Yale:

"Young people’s exposure to fast food TV ads has increased. Compared to 2003, preschoolers viewed 21 percent more fast food ads in 2009, children viewed 34 percent more, and teens viewed 39 percent more."

It's good to point out that a number of food manufacturers have started and/or pledged to voluntary curbs on marketing to kids. Is there any thinking person who doesn't see that these companies prefer voluntary guidelines so they won't face actual guidelines?

The Children's Advertising Review Unit, whose policies were set by an ad council and are administered by a business trade group, is an example of this. Companies can say they are "helping," without actually having to do anything, and without sanctions if they don't. 

The Rudd Center's finding go beyond just the companies that said they'd do better about marketing to children, but they do show that such voluntary codes do little. They also show that if we don't want kids taken advantage of, by companies that see dollar signs floating gayly above their darling little heads, that a different solution — which is to say, a solution — is needed.