Food marketing on digital platforms: what do teens see?

Abstract

Objective: Given the aggressive marketing of foods and beverages to teenagers on digital platforms, and the paucity of research documenting teen engagement with food marketing and its persuasive content, the objective of this study is to examine what teenagers see as teen-targeted food marketing on four popular digital platforms and to provide insight into the persuasive power of that marketing. Design: An exploratory, participatory research study, in which teenagers used a special mobile app to capture all teen-targeted food and beverage marketing they saw on digital media for 7 days. For each ad, participants identified the brand, product and specific appeals that made it teen-targeted, as well as the platform on which it was found. Setting: Online (digital media) with teenagers in Canada. Participants: 278 teenagers, ages 13-17. Most participants were girls (63%) and older teenagers (58% aged 16-17). Results: Participants captured 1392 teen-targeted food advertisements from Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok and YouTube. The greatest number of food marketing examples came from Instagram (46%) (with no difference across genders or age), while beverages (28.7%), fast food (25.1%) and candy/chocolate were the top categories advertised. When it comes to persuasive power, visual style was the top choice across all platforms and participants, with other top techniques (special offer, theme, humor), ranking differently, depending on age, gender and platform. Conclusions: This study provides insight into the nature of digital food marketing and its persuasive power for teenagers, highlighting considerations of selection and salience when it comes to examining food marketing and monitoring.

Food marketing to young adults: platforms and persuasive power in Canada

“…Since the WHO's aim is to create an "enabling food environment" for children (WHO, 2010, p. 4), one that fosters healthy eating and healthy weights, its overall policy objective is to reduce both children's exposure to unhealthy food marketing and the power of that marketing (WHO, 2012). Accordingly, there has been a growing research interest on food marketing power and exposure when it comes to children (Elliott and Truman, 2019;WHO, 2022;Elliott and Truman, 2021;Elliott and Truman, 2020) one that has also expanded to include teenagers, who are aggressively targeted by food marketers (Elliott et al, 2022a(Elliott et al, , 2022b(Elliott et al, , 2023(Elliott et al, , 2024Ellison et al 2023), an included as part of the recommended monitoring efforts related to food marketing restrictions (WHO, 2012;Health Canada, 2023).…”

“…Salience recognizes that certain elements of a text may be given more prominence; that is, not all aspects of a text are equally meaningful (Entman, 1993). As we have observed elsewhere, one hurdle with much of the food marketing research with young people is that “when it comes to documenting ‘power’ within a persuasive message, all techniques are typically treated as if equally salient and equally significant” (Elliott and Truman, 2024, p. 6). This is particularly true in the case of content analyses or monitoring protocols, where researchers generally examine marketing content for the presence of preselected indicators (such as a cartoon, celebrity, appeal to fun or special offer).…”

“…This is particularly true in the case of content analyses or monitoring protocols, where researchers generally examine marketing content for the presence of preselected indicators (such as a cartoon, celebrity, appeal to fun or special offer). They capture all such appeals, add them up, then “draw conclusions about what it means” (Elliott and Truman, 2024, p. 6). Yet framing theory rejects the assumption that all elements of a text – or, in this case, persuasive techniques found within an advertisement – are equally significant.…”

“…Yet framing theory rejects the assumption that all elements of a text – or, in this case, persuasive techniques found within an advertisement – are equally significant. It cautions that coders who overlook the salience of elements within a text “may often yield data that misrepresent the media messages that most audience members are actually picking up” (Entman, 1993, p. 57; Elliott and Truman, 2024). Our study keeps selection and salience in mind: is designed to reveal what young adults find persuasive and meaningful in the food marketing that they see.…”