The Spanish Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics recommends the withdrawal of children’s games from the market.Burger Boom‘ considering that there is a risk of promoting or influencing the development of Eating disorder (EDs), such as anorexia, bulimia, or binge eating disorder.
This game is one of the latest innovations that the popular brand Bizak has launched this year and that in these weeks can be seen more in promotional ads for the Christmas campaign, with a notable presence in the advertising breaks of children’s television channels.
‘Burger Boom’ is based on a simple competition mechanic between two participants, composed of a button in the shape of hamburger with tubes, a card game with illustrations and latex balloons. Each player must put a balloon connected to one of the tubes under their shirt. In turns you take cards and, depending on what they indicate, you press the hamburger, which little by little swells the “belly”. The player who exploits him first loses.
The illustrations on the cards refer to actions such as overeating or high-calorie food, exercising to burn off food, etc. In the opinion of the Academy, in the game “eating is penalized, compensation is rewarded and it encourages stigmatizing association between eating certain foods and gaining weight, as well as between weight and health.”
As explained Xandra Romerocoordinator of the ED specialization group at the Nutrition Academy, the game gives off inappropriate concepts regarding food, the body and health, trivializing obesityand its greatest seriousness lies in being aimed at a very childish audience that still has eating habits under construction.
For this reason, they report that the game does not meet the claims that the company claims to promote, such as teamwork, social interaction or strategy skills. On the contrary, they consider that it encourages misconceptions about food and health and diet culture linked to the idea of compensation which also labels foods as good and bad solely because of their relationship with body weight.
Likewise, play can impact children’s development by fixing harmful ideas such as social acceptance based on body shape, pesocentrismobsession with weight and diet or fatphobic attitudes. This distortion of eating and body image can also lead to the development of Eating disorder.
The Spanish Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics launches a recommended appeal to parents not buying this product to their children and suggest that the company withdraw it. Furthermore, they invite the industry to avoid perpetuating these types of messages because of the risk presented by stereotypes and misconceptions in toys that only seem fun and educational.
Woohoo! A story to motivate healthy eating: A story to motivate healthy eating (Emotions, values and habits)
*Some prices may have changed since the last review
In DAP | Social networks such as Instagram or TikTok increase the risk of developing eating disorders in adolescents
In DAP | It’s not veganism, it’s EDs: what can we learn from the death of the influencer who only ate fruit