Differences in child and adolescent exposure to unhealthy food and beverage advertising on television in a self-regulatory environment
Abstract Background Food and beverage promotion is a contributor to children’s dietary behaviours, and ultimately, downstream health consequences. Broadcast television remains an important source of such advertising. The objective of this study was to examine and compare children and adolescent’s ex...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
BMC
2023-03-01
|
| Series: | BMC Public Health |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-023-15027-w |
| _version_ | 1797859800728469504 |
|---|---|
| author | Monique Potvin Kent Julia Soares Guimaraes Meghan Pritchard Lauren Remedios Elise Pauzé Mary L’Abbé Christine Mulligan Laura Vergeer Madyson Weippert |
| author_facet | Monique Potvin Kent Julia Soares Guimaraes Meghan Pritchard Lauren Remedios Elise Pauzé Mary L’Abbé Christine Mulligan Laura Vergeer Madyson Weippert |
| author_sort | Monique Potvin Kent |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Background Food and beverage promotion is a contributor to children’s dietary behaviours, and ultimately, downstream health consequences. Broadcast television remains an important source of such advertising. The objective of this study was to examine and compare children and adolescent’s exposure to food advertising on television in Canada over an entire year in a self-regulatory environment. Methods Television advertising data for 57 selected food and beverage categories were licensed from Numerator for 36 stations in Toronto, for 2019. The estimated average number of advertisements viewed by children aged 2–11 and adolescents aged 12–17 was determined overall, by food category, and by marketing technique. The healthfulness of advertisements was also assessed using Health Canada’s Nutrient Profile Model. Results Overall in 2019, children viewed 2234.4 food ads/person/yr while adolescents viewed 1631.7 ads, exposure for both groups stemmed primarily from stations with general appeal, and both age groups were exposed to a range of powerful marketing techniques. Exposure to advertising for restaurants, snacks, breakfast food and candy and chocolate was high among both age groups and the healthfulness of most advertised products was considered poor. Adolescents were exposed to 36.4% more food products classified as unhealthy, had higher exposure to all marketing techniques examined, and were exposed to substantially more child-related marketing techniques compared to children. Conclusion Children and adolescents were heavily exposed to food advertisements on television in 2019. Despite current self-regulatory policies, children’s exposure to unhealthy food and beverages remains high. Differences in exposure to food advertisements by food category and healthfulness may suggest that adolescents are being disproportionately targeted by food companies as a result of self-regulatory marketing restrictions. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-09T21:35:27Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-18500244e5ab4750b77d5ab4d4b01064 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1471-2458 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-09T21:35:27Z |
| publishDate | 2023-03-01 |
| publisher | BMC |
| record_format | Article |
| series | BMC Public Health |
| spelling | doaj.art-18500244e5ab4750b77d5ab4d4b010642023-03-26T11:19:10ZengBMCBMC Public Health1471-24582023-03-0123111110.1186/s12889-023-15027-wDifferences in child and adolescent exposure to unhealthy food and beverage advertising on television in a self-regulatory environmentMonique Potvin Kent0Julia Soares Guimaraes1Meghan Pritchard2Lauren Remedios3Elise Pauzé4Mary L’Abbé5Christine Mulligan6Laura Vergeer7Madyson Weippert8School of Epidemiology and Public Health, Faculty of Medicine, University of OttawaSchool of Interdisciplinary Health Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of OttawaSchool of Interdisciplinary Health Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of OttawaSchool of Epidemiology and Public Health, Faculty of Medicine, University of OttawaSchool of Interdisciplinary Health Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of OttawaDepartment of Nutritional Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, University of TorontoDepartment of Nutritional Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, University of TorontoDepartment of Nutritional Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, University of TorontoDepartment of Nutritional Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, University of TorontoAbstract Background Food and beverage promotion is a contributor to children’s dietary behaviours, and ultimately, downstream health consequences. Broadcast television remains an important source of such advertising. The objective of this study was to examine and compare children and adolescent’s exposure to food advertising on television in Canada over an entire year in a self-regulatory environment. Methods Television advertising data for 57 selected food and beverage categories were licensed from Numerator for 36 stations in Toronto, for 2019. The estimated average number of advertisements viewed by children aged 2–11 and adolescents aged 12–17 was determined overall, by food category, and by marketing technique. The healthfulness of advertisements was also assessed using Health Canada’s Nutrient Profile Model. Results Overall in 2019, children viewed 2234.4 food ads/person/yr while adolescents viewed 1631.7 ads, exposure for both groups stemmed primarily from stations with general appeal, and both age groups were exposed to a range of powerful marketing techniques. Exposure to advertising for restaurants, snacks, breakfast food and candy and chocolate was high among both age groups and the healthfulness of most advertised products was considered poor. Adolescents were exposed to 36.4% more food products classified as unhealthy, had higher exposure to all marketing techniques examined, and were exposed to substantially more child-related marketing techniques compared to children. Conclusion Children and adolescents were heavily exposed to food advertisements on television in 2019. Despite current self-regulatory policies, children’s exposure to unhealthy food and beverages remains high. Differences in exposure to food advertisements by food category and healthfulness may suggest that adolescents are being disproportionately targeted by food companies as a result of self-regulatory marketing restrictions.https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-023-15027-wFood marketingTelevisionChildrenAdolescents |
| spellingShingle | Monique Potvin Kent Julia Soares Guimaraes Meghan Pritchard Lauren Remedios Elise Pauzé Mary L’Abbé Christine Mulligan Laura Vergeer Madyson Weippert Differences in child and adolescent exposure to unhealthy food and beverage advertising on television in a self-regulatory environment BMC Public Health Food marketing Television Children Adolescents |
| title | Differences in child and adolescent exposure to unhealthy food and beverage advertising on television in a self-regulatory environment |
| title_full | Differences in child and adolescent exposure to unhealthy food and beverage advertising on television in a self-regulatory environment |
| title_fullStr | Differences in child and adolescent exposure to unhealthy food and beverage advertising on television in a self-regulatory environment |
| title_full_unstemmed | Differences in child and adolescent exposure to unhealthy food and beverage advertising on television in a self-regulatory environment |
| title_short | Differences in child and adolescent exposure to unhealthy food and beverage advertising on television in a self-regulatory environment |
| title_sort | differences in child and adolescent exposure to unhealthy food and beverage advertising on television in a self regulatory environment |
| topic | Food marketing Television Children Adolescents |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-023-15027-w |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT moniquepotvinkent differencesinchildandadolescentexposuretounhealthyfoodandbeverageadvertisingontelevisioninaselfregulatoryenvironment AT juliasoaresguimaraes differencesinchildandadolescentexposuretounhealthyfoodandbeverageadvertisingontelevisioninaselfregulatoryenvironment AT meghanpritchard differencesinchildandadolescentexposuretounhealthyfoodandbeverageadvertisingontelevisioninaselfregulatoryenvironment AT laurenremedios differencesinchildandadolescentexposuretounhealthyfoodandbeverageadvertisingontelevisioninaselfregulatoryenvironment AT elisepauze differencesinchildandadolescentexposuretounhealthyfoodandbeverageadvertisingontelevisioninaselfregulatoryenvironment AT marylabbe differencesinchildandadolescentexposuretounhealthyfoodandbeverageadvertisingontelevisioninaselfregulatoryenvironment AT christinemulligan differencesinchildandadolescentexposuretounhealthyfoodandbeverageadvertisingontelevisioninaselfregulatoryenvironment AT lauravergeer differencesinchildandadolescentexposuretounhealthyfoodandbeverageadvertisingontelevisioninaselfregulatoryenvironment AT madysonweippert differencesinchildandadolescentexposuretounhealthyfoodandbeverageadvertisingontelevisioninaselfregulatoryenvironment |