Food and Beverage Advertising to Children and Adolescents on Television: A Baseline Study

Abstract

The progressive rise in Canadian child obesity has paralleled trends in unhealthy food consumption. Industry has contributed to these trends through aggressive food and beverage marketing in various media and child settings. This study aimed to assess the extent of food and beverage advertising on television in Canada and compare the frequency of food advertising broadcasted during programs targeted to preschoolers, children, adolescents and adults. Annual advertising from 2018 was drawn from publicly available television program logs. Food and beverage advertisement rates and frequencies were compared by, target age group, television station, month and food category, using linear regression modelling and chi-square tests, in SAS version 9.4. Rates of food and beverage advertising differed significantly between the four target age groups, and varied significantly by television station and time of the year, in 2018. The proportion of advertisements for food and beverage products was significantly greater during preschooler-, child-, and adult-programming [5432 (54%), 142,451 (74%) and 2,886,628 (48%), respectively; p < 0.0001] compared to adolescent-programming [27,268 (42%)]. The proportion of advertisements promoting fast food was significantly greater among adolescent-programming [33,475 (51%), p < 0.0001] compared to other age groups. Legislation restricting food and beverage advertising is needed in Canada as current self-regulatory practices are failing to protect young people from unhealthy food advertising and its potential negative health effects.

Children’s measured exposure to food and beverage advertising on television in Toronto (Canada), May 2011–May 2019

“…This led to the exclusion of the Disney Channel, a popular child-appealing station, for which data were only available for May 2019. As we only examined 4 weeks of advertising per year in one Canadian city, our estimate of exposure is likely not representative of all Canadian children and does not account for seasonal variations in advertising frequency and content (Pinto et al, 2020 ). Our study also excludes exposure to food product or brand appearances that can be seen during sponsored sporting events and other television programming (Elsey & Harris, 2016 ; Sherriff et al, 2010 ).…”

“…estimate of exposure is likely not representative of all Canadian children and does not account for seasonal variations in advertising frequency and content (Pinto et al, 2020). Our study also excludes exposure to food product or brand appearances that can be seen during sponsored sporting events and other television programming (Elsey & Harris, 2016;Sherriff et al, 2010).…”

“…For instance, a recent international study found that advertisements promoting unhealthy foods on three Canadian child speciality stations outnumbered those promoting healthier products by a factor of 12 and Canada had by far the highest rate of unhealthy food advertising (9.7 ads/h/station) compared with 21 other countries (the second highest being Spain at 5.2 ads/h/station) (Kelly et al, 2019). While most Canadian studies have focused on the frequency and/or healthfulness of food advertising on children's speciality stations (Kelly et al, 2019), on child programming (Pinto et al, 2020) or on programs where children constitute a large proportion of viewers (Potvin Kent et al, 2018), comparatively fewer have examined children's actual exposure using objectively measured media data (Potvin Kent & Wanless, 2014).…”

"Contra a obesidade infantil: 1,2,3 e já!" - Análise de campanhas brasileiras de prevenção e controle da obesidade infantil

“…Sendo essas taxas variáveis de acordo com o mês escolar e com a estação de televisão. (PINTO, 2020). Para a OMS, marketing é "qualquer forma de comunicação comercial ou mensagem projetada para aumento do reconhecimento, apelo e / ou consumo de produtos e serviços específicos, e qualquer coisa para anunciar ou promover produto/serviço" (PINTO, 2020).…”

A longitudinal analysis of fast-food exposure on child weight outcomes: Identifying causality through school transitions

“…Another potential mechanism is that greater access to fast food amplifies promotional efforts by fast-food companies. Fast food is heavily advertised and advertising is often targeted to children and adolescents ( Linn and Novosat 2008 ; Pinto et al. 2020 ).…”