Variations in food and drink advertising in UK monthly women's magazines according to season, magazine type and socio-economic profile of readers: a descriptive study of publications over 12 months

Abstract

BackgroundOverweight and obesity are recognised nationally and internationally as key public health challenges. Food and drink advertising is one of the array of factors that influence both diet and physical activity choices and, hence, body weight and obesity. Little previous work has focused on food and drink advertising in magazines. We studied food and drink advertising in a wide range of popular UK monthly women's magazines published over a full year. We explored differences in the prevalence of food and drink advertising and the type of food and drinks advertised according to season, magazine type and socio-economic profile of readers.MethodsAll advertisements in all issues of 18 popular UK monthly women's magazines published over 12 months were identified. For each food or drink advertisement, branded food and drinks were noted and categorised into one of seven food groups. All analyses were at the level of the individual advertisement.ResultsA total of 35 053 advertisements were identified; 1380 (3.9%) of these were for food or drink. The most common food group represented was 'food and drinks high in fat and/or sugar' (28.0% of food advertisements), the least common group was 'fruits & vegetables' (2.0% of food advertisements). Advertisements for alcohol accounted for 10.1% of all food advertisements. Food and drink advertisements were most common in summer, general interest magazines, and those with the most affluent readerships. There were some differences in the type of food and drink advertised across season, magazine type and socio-economic profile of readers.ConclusionsFood and drink advertisements represented only a small proportion of advertisements in UK women's monthly magazines. Food and drink advertisements in these magazines feature a high proportion of 'less healthy' foods. There were a number of differences across season, magazine type and according to the socio-economic profile of readers in the prevalence of food and drink advertisements. Fewer differences were seen in the type of food and drinks advertised.

Food, nutrition and slimming messages in British women's magazines, 1950–1998

“…Although convenience food advertising increased over the decades from the 1950s onwards, and fell in the 1990s, the latter change should be placed alongside an overall fall in food advertising in this decade. This weighting of advertising towards less healthy foods (high-fat, high-sugar and high-salt) concurs with contemporary studies of British women's magazine content (Adams & White, 2009;Adams et al, 2011) and temporal trends noted by Barr (1989) in a Canadian magazine. Such weightings go against the grain of nutrition policy efforts for reductions of fat, sugar and salt and an increase in consumption of fruit and vegetables and bread and cereals (Department of Health Committee on Medical Aspects of Food Policy, 1984;Department of Health, 1989, 1994Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition, 2003).…”

“…Our main comparison therefore is changes in food representation within magazines. Although there were no differences in weighting of advertising claims between WO and W&H over the decades, it is possible that women's magazines orientated to a different demographic readership may feature different weightings of food types as previously observed (Adams et al ., ). Further unravelling of temporal differences beyond time blocks of decades using complex modelling with logistic regression may be enlightening.…”

“…Unexpectedly, food advertising declined by over 50% in the 50‐year period studied, reaching eight food advertisements per issue in magazines from 1990s. This level is in line with figures reported for 2007/8 (Adams & White, ; Adams et al ., ). The decline was most marked in the 1990s; food advertising remained steady at around 15 advertisements per issue through the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s.…”

“…The nutrient profile of food advertised in both popular British weekly magazines and monthly magazines aimed for women has been studied (Adams & White, 2009;Adams et al, 2011). Both studies showed that advertised food had a poor nutrient profile against recommendations for fat, sugar, salt and fibre; there were also variations in types of food advertised according to magazine readership.…”

Pitfalls of the self‐regulation of advertisements directed at children on Mexican television

“…The lack of marketing data in the scientific literature in Mexico and Latin America, the presence of important methodological differences among studies (definition of the field of study, considered schedules), the lack of longitudinal studies and the temporal variation of marketing in Mexico are the main barriers to tracking over time the transformations of marketing aimed at children. Therefore, our study could not measure over time the impact of the SR on food and beverage marketing.…”