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Food marketing 101

What kind of food is being marketed to children?

The overwhelming majority of the foods marketed to children are of poor nutritional quality.

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Does food marketing affect children’s health?

The goal of food marketing is to influence children’s food choices. Companies wouldn’t spend billions of dollars a year on food marketing to children if they didn’t believe it had an impact. Unhealthy food and beverage marketing increases children’s preference and intake of energy-dense foods with little nutritional value.2,3 Media advertising and on-package advertising affect not only the foods children ask for, but also which foods kids are willing to eat.

Some key finding son how marketing affects children’s nutrition and health:

  • TV advertising influences children’s diets.3
  • Aggressive food and beverage marketing targeted at kids and youth contributes to an environment that threatens their health.3
  • Children are susceptible to marketing influences, especially marketing for tempting products that require developed self-regulatory abilities.4
  • A review of the major research from 2009 to 2013 found that food promotions can be linked to individual weight outcomes.5

How do marketers reach children?

Food companies spend $1.79 billion a year marketing to children.6

bar chart illustrating the total amount spent on food marketing to children ($1.79 billion a year), versus that spent on marketing healthy food marketing ($280 million)

  • Companies market food to children through television, radio, Internet, magazines, product placement in movies and video games, schools, product packages, toys, clothing and other merchandise, and almost anywhere a logo or product image can be shown.
  • Food marketing techniques include the use of characters, celebrities, cartoons, toy giveaways and other premiums, collectibles, games, contests and kids’ clubs.
  • With a rise in digital media including advergames and mobile phones, marketers are increasingly able to reach children directly, often without parents’ awareness, with more finely targeted messaging.
  • Newer forms of marketing are often disguised as entertainment, which makes them difficult for children to identify that it is marketing.4
  • Youth (12-14) are vulnerable to the influence of unhealthy food marketing due to greater independence and increased levels of media consumption.4
  • In 2011 and 2012, 34% of U.S. children and adolescents consumed fast food on a given day.1-7 Yet 97% of kids’ meals at the top chain restaurants do not meet basic nutrition standards.8

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References

1. Powell LM, Schermbeck RM, Chaloupka FJ. “Nutritional Content of Food and Beverage Products in Television Advertisements Seen on Children’s Programming.” Childhood Obesity, December 2013, vol. 9(6), pp. 524-531.

2. Sadeghirad B, Duhaney T, Motaghipisheh S, Campbell NR, Johnston BC. “Influence of Unhealthy Food and Beverage Marketing on Children’s Dietary Intake and Preference: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Trials.” Obesity Reviews, October 2016, vol. 17(10), pp. 945-959.

3. Institute of Medicine (IOM). Food Marketing to Children: Threat or Opportunity? Washington, D.C.: National Academies Press, 2006.

4. Harris JL, Heard A, Schwartz MB. Older but Still Vulnerable: All Children Need Protection from Unhealthy Food Marketing. Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity, January 2014. Accessed at http://www.uconnruddcenter.org/resources/upload/docs/what/reports/Protecting_Older_Children_3.14.pdf.

5. Kelly B, King L, Chapman K, Boyland E, Bauman AE, Baur LA. “A Hierarchy of Unhealthy Food Promotion Effects: Identifying Methodological Approaches and Knowledge Gaps.” American Journal of Public Health, April 2015, vol. 105(4), pp. 86-95.

6. A Review of Marketing Food to Children and Adolescents: Follow-Up Report. Washington, D.C.: Federal Trade Commission, 2012. Available from http://www.ftc.gov/os/2012/12/121221foodmarketingreport.pdf.

7. Vikraman S, Fryar CD, Ogden CL. “Caloric Intake from Fast Food among Children and Adolescents in the United States, 2011–2012.” NCHS Data Brief. September 2015, no. 213. Accessed at http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/databriefs/db213.pdf.

8. Batada A, Flewelling L, Goode A, Wootan, MG. Kids’ Meals II: Obesity and Poor Nutrition on the Menu. Washington, D.C.: Center for Science in the Public Interest, March 2013. Accessed at https://cspinet.org/new/pdf/cspi-kids-meals-2013.pdf.