Global benchmarking of children's exposure to television advertising of unhealthy foods and beverages across 22 countries

Abstract

Summary Restricting children's exposures to marketing of unhealthy foods and beverages is a global obesity prevention priority. Monitoring marketing exposures supports informed policymaking. This study presents a global overview of children's television advertising exposure to healthy and unhealthy products. Twenty‐two countries contributed data, captured between 2008 and 2017. Advertisements were coded for the nature of foods and beverages, using the 2015 World Health Organization (WHO) Europe Nutrient Profile Model (should be permitted/not‐permitted to be advertised). Peak viewing times were defined as the top five hour timeslots for children. On average, there were four times more advertisements for foods/beverages that should not be permitted than for permitted foods/beverages. The frequency of food/beverages advertisements that should not be permitted per hour was higher during peak viewing times compared with other times (P < 0.001). During peak viewing times, food and beverage advertisements that should not be permitted were higher in countries with industry self‐regulatory programmes for responsible advertising compared with countries with no policies. Globally, children are exposed to a large volume of television advertisements for unhealthy foods and beverages, despite the implementation of food industry programmes. Governments should enact regulation to protect children from television advertising of unhealthy products that undermine their health.

Consumption of ultra‐processed foods and its association with added sugar content in the diets of US children, NHANES 2009‐2014

“…The increase of inadequacy across quintiles was more evident among younger children most likely because as children grow older, they become more exposed to foods rich in added sugars, even the lowest consumers of ultra‐processed foods . Older children and adolescents become more autonomous and exposed to the obesogenic marketing environment that surrounds them . Similar to our findings, NHANES analyses of the general population has shown that those in the highest quintile of ultra‐processed food consumption were three times more likely to exceed the 10% added sugars cut‐off than those in the lowest quintile .…”

“…The high consumption of ultra‐processed foods observed in our study are cause for concern because of the evidence linking increases in the dietary share of ultra‐processed foods to deterioration of the nutritional quality of the overall diet. Particularly concerning for this population is the fact that beyond carrying more than 90% of all added sugars in the diet, ultra‐processed foods as a whole are typically attractively packaged, aggressively marketed, and appealing to children; they promote food addiction and overconsumption, and they take the place of healthy homemade dishes, increasing energy density of diets and potentially promoting micronutrient deficiencies—all of which could have adverse health‐related consequences to children.…”

Ultra-Processed Food Consumption among the Paediatric Population: An Overview and Call to Action from the European Childhood Obesity Group

“…Transnational corporations have circumvented nutrition standards for school meals and the sale of competitive foods within schools in contexts like the US, with indirect endorsements or the sale of copy-cat snacks [46,47] and have succeeded in rolling back standards for school lunches [48]. While some attempt has been made to restrict the marketing of these products to children via television [49][50][51], digital food marketing (including in social media, online gaming and on websites of interest to young people) remains largely unchartered territory [52][53][54][55]. Digital UPF promotion is increasingly delivered through smart phones and tablets, resulting in an uninterrupted, immersive commercial experience [56,57].…”

Future directions to prevent obesity within the context of the Global Syndemic

“…INFORMAS has also developed methods and protocols to enable civil society organizations and researchers to benchmark food environments across countries for marketing to children and food and beverage product reformulation. Kelly et al compared the healthiness of food marketing to children on television across 22 countries using the WHO Europe's nutrient‐profiling model to assess the percentage of television advertisements for unhealthy food and beverage products. This study found that unhealthy advertisements were higher in countries with industry self‐regulatory programs, suggesting the need for stronger government regulation to protect children from the promotion of unhealthy products that undermine optimal health.…”