Examining the Relationship between Youth-Targeted Food Marketing Expenditures and the Demographics of Social Media Followers

Pasquale E. Rummo, Omni Cassidy, Ingrid Wells, Jaime A. Coffino and Marie A. Bragg
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Pasquale E. Rummo: Department of Population Health, New York University School of Medicine, New York, NY 10016, USA
Omni Cassidy: Department of Population Health, New York University School of Medicine, New York, NY 10016, USA
Ingrid Wells: Department of Population Health, New York University School of Medicine, New York, NY 10016, USA
Jaime A. Coffino: Department of Psychology, University at Albany, State University of New York, Albany, NY 12222, USA
Marie A. Bragg: Department of Population Health, New York University School of Medicine, New York, NY 10016, USA

IJERPH, 2020, vol. 17, issue 5, 1-12

Abstract: Background : To determine how many adolescents follow food/beverage brands on Instagram and Twitter, and examine associations between brands’ youth-targeted marketing practices and percentages of adolescent followers. Methods : We purchased data from Demographics Pro to characterize the demographics of Twitter and Instagram users who followed 27 of the most highly advertised fast food, snack, and drink brands in 2019. We used one-sample t -tests to compare percentages of adolescent followers of the selected brands’ accounts versus all social media accounts, independent samples t -tests to compare followers of sugary versus low-calorie drink brands, and linear regression to examine associations between youth-targeted marketing practices and the percentages of adolescent followers. Results : An estimated 6.2 million adolescents followed the selected brands. A higher percentage of adolescents followed the selected brands’ accounts (9.2%) compared to any account on Twitter (1.2%) ( p < 0.001), but not Instagram. A higher percentage of adolescents followed sugary (7.9%) versus low-calorie drink brands (4.3%) on Instagram ( p = 0.02), but we observed the opposite pattern for adults on Twitter and Instagram. Television advertising expenditures were positively associated with percentages of adolescent followers of the selected brands on Twitter ( p = 0.03), but not Instagram. Conclusions : Food and sugary drink brands maintain millions of adolescent followers on social media.

Keywords: social media; food marketing; targeted advertising; adolescents; sugar-sweetened beverages; fast food (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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