Robert Woods Johnson Foundation Research Brief Examines Food and Beverage Marketing to Children and Adolescents

What Changes are Needed to Promote Healthy Eating Habits? Children and adolescents are bombarded with promotions for foods and beverages, and most products advertised to them are high in calories, sugar, sodium and fat. Many social, cultural and environmental factors influence children's and adolescents' risk for obesity, but marketing may have an especially powerful impact on what foods and beverages they consume.

This brief summarizes the latest research about the ubiquity of food and beverage marketing targeting youths and how marketing may influence their dietary patterns and health. It also describes national regulations to protect young people from deceptive marketing practices, outlines the changes that some food and beverage companies have made to offer healthier options and details what research is still needed to understand and limit the potential for food and beverage marketing to adversely affect young people's health.

Among the key research findings highlighted:

• The largest share of advertising budgets-46 percent of all youth marketing expenditures-is dedicated to television because it has the potential to reach a broad audience. High proportions of toddlers and preschoolers (75 percent), school-age children (84 percent) and adolescents (73 percent) watch television every day.
• Nearly all (98 percent) food advertisements viewed by children and 89 percent of advertisements viewed by adolescents were for products that were high in fat, sugar or sodium.
• Higher exposure to advertising (based on parents' reports of viewing habits and advertising broadcast data) was related to greater consumption of advertised brands and energy-dense product categories (sugared breakfast cereals, confectionery, savory snacks, soft drinks and products from fast-food restaurants).

The brief was prepared by Nicole Larson and Mary Story of Healthy Eating Research, a national program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Click here to download full text of the research brief.