Other countries have regulated advertising to children. More than a decade ago, for example, Sweden banned advertising to children under the age of twelve. In 2001 the mayor of Rio de Janeiro issued a decree restricting all outdoor ads for food, drink, and tobacco within 200 meters from schools and hospitals; the city has also banned all soda and fast food ads in its schools. In March 2005, as news of the childhood obesity epidemic was breaking in the U.S. media, Democratic Senator Tom Harkin of Iowa announced that he would introduce bills, one that would empower the FTC to regulate ads to children, and another that would allow the Secretary of Agriculture to prevent branded food items in schools.

Internet Assignment Find out what happened. Were these bills ever introduced? Are there any current efforts underway at the federal level to regulate marketing to children in the United States?