Childhood obesity is a serious global health challenge. Families and consumption are at the nexus of the problem, as childhood weight issues depend significantly on family-related influences (genetic predispositions, physical activities, and household food consumption practices). This article focuses on how a family socializes a child toward or away from obesity. It advances a family consumer socialization framework to characterize key elements and processes.Biological predispositions, parent/family inputs, elements of child development, parent-child interactions, and intergenerational transfer are all major contributors to weight status and life course potentials. Time is also a crucial component, here represented in two forms --linear and cyclical. Drawing on extensive research from other disciplines and related consumer research, five "Foundational Properties" are distilled, representing fundamental tenets underpinning the family's role in this problem. Each property is then used to chart promising opportunities for consumer researchers and others interested in advancing knowledge on this pressing concern.

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In 2005, the Institute of Medicine declared that the prevalence of childhood obesity in the United States ranks as a major health concern. Although the role of television advertising as a possible contributor has received considerable research attention, most previous studies have not included a detailed analysis of children's exposure on all programming or made comparisons with earlier estimates. Therefore, the Bureau of Economics staff at the Federal Trade Commission undertook a comprehensive analysis of television advertising to determine how many and what types of advertisements children are exposed to today and how the findings compare with their exposure before the rise in obesity. This article presents the major findings of the Federal Trade Commission's report and discusses several other issues that help inform the obesity debate. The article's insights will be useful to policy makers, researchers, marketers, and other constituencies involved in developing solutions to the obesity problem.

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The authors extend their appreciation to Paul Bloom and Joseph Cannon, who provided valuable feedback and insights regarding this article and permitted the use of the survey data that made this article possible. 1 Although frequently used interchangeably, slotting fees typically refer to up-front cash payments, whereas allowances reflect free or discounted orders for products (Cannon and Bloom 1991).

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