Tag Archive for: marketing to children

How children are being targeted with hidden ads on social media

The Conversation

Funny memes, insider-driven stories or inspirational content, known as content marketing, is advertising that disguises its commercial nature with no call to action. It promotes positive emotions in the consumer and often there is no obvious connection to the product or the service being advertised. Content marketing on social media is hard for children to recognize since they have fewer skills for recognising advertising than adults. Read more

Experts warn about the advertising of ultra-processed food for children on Youtube

News Medical Life Sciences 

Researchers from the Department of Communication and Social Psychology at the University of Alicante (UA), warn about the advertising of ultra-processed food aimed at children by popular YouTubers in the form of challenges and contests. Read more

Junk Food Ads Are Still Targeting Kids of Colour

Vice

For Black and Latino communities that already have higher rates of diabetes and obesity, fast-food advertising adds another layer to health inequities that can become intergenerational. “For underserved populations like African Americans and Latino Americans, we see a lot more patients with family members who struggle with weight-related conditions,” says Dr. Veronica Johnson of Northwestern Medicine. Read more

Our children are fed with ads promoting unhealthy foods day in, day out’: Fresh call for crackdown on junk food marketing

Food Navigator 

New research reveals the extent to which European children are exposed to the marketing of unhealthy food products – and the results show that voluntary restrictions are only succeeding to ‘reassure policymakers on paper’ and ‘buy time’ for the food industry, according to The European Consumer Organisation BEUC (Bureau Européen des Unions de Consommateurs).  Read the article

 

Sugary UK children’s yoghurts named and shamed by researchers

The Guardian 

Nearly two-thirds of the yogurts marketed at children provide at least a third of a four- to six-year-old’s maximum daily intake of added sugars, according to research that calls for a ban on child-friendly packaging. Katharine Jenner, the campaign director at Action on Sugar, said: “Clever marketing techniques such as advertising, promotions and packaging are powerful tools to get children hooked on the sweet stuff from a young age and for life.” Read more

 

 

School routes swimming in junk food ads

Medical Xpress
A study published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health revealed that of the 4016 advertisements observed along 7 bus, walking and train routes to 4 Perth high schools almost half were for food and 80 percent advertised junk food.  Only 8 per cent advertised healthy foods. Read more

Adolescents bombarded with junk food marketing on social media 

Medical Xpress
According to new research from the University of Wollongong, for every hour that an Australian child spends online on their phone, they view more than 17 food and drink ads, a figure that is almost nine times higher than their exposure via tv advertising. Associate Professor Bridget Kelly, the lead researcher on the study, said the rate of promotion for unhealthy food was 50 times higher than the rate for healthier products. Read more

Help our post-pandemic health by ending food marketing to children

The Toronto Star

An op-ed from Chantal Peticlerc and other coalition members highlights the importance of restricting food marketing aimed at children, especially in a post-pandemic context. Read more

What Are We Feeding Our Kids? review – junk food exposé will leave you queasy 

The Guardian

In What Are We Feeding Our Kids?, Dr. Chris van Tulleken looks into the health effects – particularly for children – of the increasing consumption of ultra-processed food. It costs twice as much to get 100 calories from fresh fruit, vegetables and fish in the UK as it does to get them from readymade food.  Tim Rycroft, the chief operating officer of the Food and Drink Federation, gives the standard line about needing to ensure people are empowered to make “good choices”. Van Tulleken pushes back about how much choice there is in an environment where everything – availability, price, marketing and so on – is designed to push the consumer one way. Read more

Queen’s Speech 2021: Junk food adverts to be banned completely online and on TV before 9pm

iNews

In the UK junk food adverts before 9 pm are set to be banned on television, along with a total ban online. The proposal was revealed in a briefing document that accompanied the Queen’s Speech, as she officially reopened the UK Parliament. Her Majesty announced that the Government would put the National Health Service at the forefront of the recovery from the coronavirus pandemic and, as part of that, introduce measures to tackle obesity. Read more …