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

Adena Pinto, Elise Pauzé, Rachel Mutata, Marie-Hélène Roy-Gagnon and Monique Potvin Kent
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Adena Pinto: School of Epidemiology and Public Health, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON K1G 5Z3, Canada
Elise Pauzé: School of Epidemiology and Public Health, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON K1G 5Z3, Canada
Rachel Mutata: School of Epidemiology and Public Health, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON K1G 5Z3, Canada
Marie-Hélène Roy-Gagnon: School of Epidemiology and Public Health, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON K1G 5Z3, Canada
Monique Potvin Kent: School of Epidemiology and Public Health, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON K1G 5Z3, Canada

IJERPH, 2020, vol. 17, issue 6, 1-15

Abstract: The progressive rise in Canadian child obesity has paralleled trends in unhealthy food consumption. Industry has contributed to these trends through aggressive food and beverage marketing in various media and child settings. This study aimed to assess the extent of food and beverage advertising on television in Canada and compare the frequency of food advertising broadcasted during programs targeted to preschoolers, children, adolescents and adults. Annual advertising from 2018 was drawn from publicly available television program logs. Food and beverage advertisement rates and frequencies were compared by, target age group, television station, month and food category, using linear regression modelling and chi-square tests, in SAS version 9.4. Rates of food and beverage advertising differed significantly between the four target age groups, and varied significantly by television station and time of the year, in 2018. The proportion of advertisements for food and beverage products was significantly greater during preschooler-, child-, and adult-programming [5432 (54%), 142,451 (74%) and 2,886,628 (48%), respectively; p < 0.0001] compared to adolescent-programming [27,268 (42%)]. The proportion of advertisements promoting fast food was significantly greater among adolescent-programming [33,475 (51%), p < 0.0001] compared to other age groups. Legislation restricting food and beverage advertising is needed in Canada as current self-regulatory practices are failing to protect young people from unhealthy food advertising and its potential negative health effects.

Keywords: child obesity; food and beverage marketing; television advertising; food policy; nutrition policy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
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