The effectiveness of the food and beverage industry’s self-established uniform nutrition criteria at improving the healthfulness of food advertising viewed by Canadian children on television

Abstract

BackgroundFood and beverage marketing has been identified as an environmental determinant of childhood obesity. The purpose of this study is to assess whether the Uniform Nutrition Criteria established and implemented by companies participating in the self-regulatory Canadian Children’s Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative (CAI) had an impact on the healthfulness of food and beverage advertising during television programming with a high share of children in the viewing audience.MethodsData on food advertising were licensed from Numeris for 27 television stations for Toronto for May 2013 and May 2016 (i.e. before and after the implementation of the nutrition criteria). First, television programs that had a child audience share of ≥35% (when the nutrition criteria applied) were identified. Ten percent of these programs were randomly selected and included in the study. After identifying the food and beverage ads that aired during these programs, the nutritional information of advertised products was collected and their healthfulness was assessed using the Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO) and UK Nutrient Profile Models (NPM). The healthfulness of CAI products advertised in May 2013 and 2016 was compared using Chi-square tests.ResultsAlthough in May 2016, products advertised by CAI companies were more likely to be categorized as healthier by the UK NPM (21.5% versus 6.7%, χ2(1) = 12.1,p = 000) compared to those advertised in May 2013, the frequency of advertised products considered less healthy in May 2016 remained very high (78.5%) and comparable to that of products advertised by companies not participating in the CAI (80.0% categorized as less healthy). Furthermore, in both May 2013 and May 2016, 99–100% of CAI advertisements featured products deemed excessive in either fat (total, saturated, trans), sodium or free sugars according to the PAHO NPM.ConclusionsDespite modest improvements noted after the implementation of the CAI’s Uniform Nutrition Criteria, the healthfulness of most products advertised during programs with a high share of children in the viewing audience remains poor. Mandatory regulations are needed.

Development of a Responsible Policy Index to Improve Statutory and Self-Regulatory Policies that Protect Children’s Diet and Health in the America’s Region

“…This research suggests that the nutrient criteria and narrow scopes on marketing techniques covered in policies are some of the potential loopholes. The nutrient criteria delimit the products that are allowed to be marketed to children, therefore week standards will result in higher exposure of HFSS food and beverage products as previous research have demonstrated [57][58][59][60]. On the other hand, narrowing the scope to a single marketing technique and/or media channels, settings and platforms leaves room for food and beverage companies to continue to market HFSS food and beverage products to young people.…”

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

“…Our study demonstrates Canada's industry-led food advertising initiative (i.e., the CAI) is failing, evident from the persistent high rates of food advertising to children under 12, despite its introduction over a decade ago. Previous research has also shown that CAI companies continue to advertise to children under 12, despite their pledges to abstain from advertising when children make up 25−35% of the viewing audience [35]. Moreover, the CAI fails to capture the breadth of food companies advertising to children under 12 years old.…”

“…Child-specialty stations, conversely, had significantly lower rates of food advertising during programming directed at youth under 18, with the exception of ABC Spark, Nickelodeon, Teletoon (English), VRAK and YTV. These child-specialty stations, particularly Nickelodeon, Teletoon and YTV, have previously been reported as having high rates of food advertising in Canada [12,13,15,35]. Importantly, as YTV is offered in most expanded basic TV packages across Canada, its high level of food advertising is likely due to the greater access to, and viewership of, this station.…”

“…The latter must comply with the CAI's Uniform Nutrition Criteria (implemented in 2015), on television and in other media [6,[30][31][32][33]. Despite the CAI's efforts to limit food and beverage advertising directed at children, under 12 years old, studies have shown this self-regulatory program has insufficiently protected Canadian children from unhealthy food and beverage advertising on television [13,34,35]. Critiques of the CAI report that CAI companies are responsible for more food and beverage advertising during children's viewing than non-CAI participating companies, and that up to 58% of its "better-for-you" advertised products (e.g., Froot Loops) fail to pass the nutrition standards of many national governments [14,36].…”

“…Critiques of the CAI report that CAI companies are responsible for more food and beverage advertising during children's viewing than non-CAI participating companies, and that up to 58% of its "better-for-you" advertised products (e.g., Froot Loops) fail to pass the nutrition standards of many national governments [14,36]. Other criticisms levied at the CAI include child-audience thresholds (i.e., the percentage of the viewing audience that must be children, under 12 years old, before the pledges are implemented) that are too high, low participation rates; and narrow definitions of child-directed marketing [35].…”