Background: Concerns have been raised that health and societal causes surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic were misappropriated by companies to promote their unhealthy products to vulnerable populations during a time of increased stress and hardship (i.e., COVID-washing). Social media is a common medium for unhealthy foods and beverage marketing due to lack of regulation and low levels of monitoring.Purpose: This study aimed to investigate the timing, nature and extent of COVID-washing on public social media accounts by New Zealand's major food and drink brands in the initial stage of the pandemic after the first case was detected in New Zealand and when stay-at-home lockdown restrictions (Level 4 and 3 Alert levels) were in place.Methods: A content analysis of social media posts from February to May 2020 by the twenty largest confectionery, snacks, non-alcoholic beverages, and quick-service restaurant (fast-food) brands was undertaken. COVID-19 related posts were identified and classified to investigate the timing, themes and engagement with social media marketing campaigns, flagging those that may breach New Zealand's Advertising Standards.Results: 14 of 20 unhealthy food and drink brands referenced COVID-19 in posts during the 4-month period, peaking during nationwide lockdown restrictions. Over a quarter of all posts by the 14 brands (n = 372, 27.2%) were COVID-19 themed. Fast-food brands were most likely to use COVID-19 themed posts (n = 251/550 posts, 46%). Fast-food brands also had the highest number of posts overall during the pandemic and the highest engagement. The most commonly-used theme, present in 36% of all social media posts referring to COVID-19, was to draw on feelings of community support during this challenging time. Suggesting brand-related isolation activities was also common (23%), and the message that “consumption helps with coping” (22%). Six posts were found to potentially breach one of New Zealand's advertising standards codes by promoting excessive consumption or targeting children.Conclusion: COVID-washing was used by unhealthy food and drinks brands to increase brand loyalty and encourage consumption. The current Advertising Standards system is ineffective and must be replaced with a government-led approach to effectively regulate social media advertising to protect all New Zealanders, particularly in times of crisis.
Despite assurances of government action, the burden of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and overweight and obesity is continuing to grow at an alarming rate both globally and in Europe. The NOURISHING and MOVING policy frameworks outline a comprehensive set of policy actions across 6 domains and 16 policy areas in which national governments should take action to promote healthy diets and physical activity. Monitoring and benchmarking these policies is important for assessing progress on obesity and NCD prevention. This paper describes the participatory process for developing benchmarking tools structured around the policy areas of the NOURISH-ING and MOVING policy frameworks. They consist of a set of indicators and policy attributes that assess government support in promoting healthy nutrition and physical activity. They are adolescent relevant as they capture policy actions that target or impact adolescents. The benchmarking tools are designed to monitor progress on national government action on nutrition and physical activity based on aspirational standards. They will be applied in 27 European countries initially and are aimed at policymakers, researchers, and civil society, to track progress, develop the research infrastructure on effectiveness of NCD prevention policies at population level, and support advocacy efforts.
Background: Considering the large health burden of physical inactivity, effective physical activity promotion is a “best buy” for noncommunicable disease and obesity prevention. The MOVING policy framework was developed to promote and monitor government policy actions to increase physical activity as part of the EU Horizon 2020 project “Confronting Obesity: Co-creating policy with youth (CO-CREATE).” Method: A scanning exercise, documentary review of key international policy documents, and thematic analysis of main recommendations were conducted. Themes were reviewed as part of a consultation with physical activity experts. Results: There were 6 overarching policy framework areas: M—make opportunities and initiatives that promote physical activity in schools, the community, and sport and recreation; O—offer physical activity opportunities in the workplace and training in physical activity promotion across multiple professions; V—visualize and enact structures and surroundings that promote physical activity; I—implement transport infrastructure and opportunities that support active societies; N—normalize and increase physical activity through public communication that motivates and builds behavior change skills; and G—give physical activity training, assessment, and counseling in health care settings. Conclusions: The MOVING framework can identify policy actions needed, tailor options suitable for populations, and assess whether approaches are sufficiently comprehensive.
Introduction Introducing legislation that restricts companies from exposing children to marketing of unhealthy food and beverage products is both politically and technically difficult. To advance the literature on the technical design of food marketing legislation, and to support governments around the world with legislative development, we aimed to describe the legislative approach from three governments. Methods A multiple case study methodology was adopted to describe how three governments approached designing comprehensive food marketing legislation (Chile, Canada and the United Kingdom). A conceptual framework outlining best practice design principles guided our methodological approach to examine how each country designed the technical aspects of their regulatory response, including the regulatory form adopted, the substantive content of the laws, and the implementation and governance mechanisms used. Data from documentary evidence and 15 semi-structured key informant interviews were collected and synthesised using a directed content analysis. Results All three countries varied in their legislative design and were therefore considered of variable strength regarding the legislative elements used to protect children from unhealthy food marketing. When compared against the conceptual framework, some elements of best practice design were present, particularly relating to the governance of legislative design and implementation, but the scope of each law (or proposed laws) had limitations. These included: the exclusion of brand marketing; not protecting children up to age 18; focusing solely on child-directed marketing instead of all marketing that children are likely to be exposed to; and not allocating sufficient resources to effectively monitor and enforce the laws. The United Kingdom’s approach to legislation is the most comprehensive and more likely to meet its regulatory objectives. Conclusions Our synthesis and analysis of the technical elements of food marketing laws can support governments around the world as they develop their own food marketing restrictions. An analysis of the three approaches illustrates an evolution in the design of food marketing laws over time, as well as the design strengths offered by a legislative approach. Opportunities remain for strengthening legislative responses to protect children from unhealthy food marketing practices.
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