February 2010 - Hot Topic

Marketing to Children

Interest in restricting commercial advertising targeted to children continues to grow. Several organizations have followed OPHA’s lead in calling on governments to protect children and support parents by prohibiting commercial advertising targeted to children under 13 years.

A comprehensive children’s advertising ban would apply to all advertising that originates in Canada but would not apply to non-commercial ads such as public health communication campaigns. Supporters now include:

  • Association of Local Public Health Agencies (alPHa);
  • Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Board of Health;
  • Durham Regional Council;
  • the Town of Ajax Council; and
  • Parks and Recreation Ontario (PRO).

The Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario and the Centre for Science in the Public Interest endorsed the advertising ban several years earlier. Overall, five Boards of Health in the province have called for either total or food-specific restrictions on advertising to children. The efforts of Toronto Public Health staff have led to Toronto Children’s Services and the Toronto Public Library Board to adopt guidelines which prohibit commercial food advertising targeted to children in their facilities.

On the international scene, the World Health Organization recently issued a report that calls on governments “to reduce the impact on children of marketing of foods high in saturated fats, trans-fatty acids, free sugars, or salt”. The report also recommends that schools, pre-school centres and other child-focused settings be free from all forms of unhealthy food marketing.

Existing and New Research

New research has shed light on the effects of children’s advertising environment and the impact of various approaches to restrict it. Researchers from 11 countries, including Canada, looked at food advertising on popular children’s television channels in early 2008. The research, to be published in the American Journal of Public Health later this year, looked at almost 200 hours of television programming in each region. Overall, 67% of food ads to children were for unhealthy food products, defined as “high in undesirable nutrients and/or energy”. Canada had the third highest rate of food advertising with 7 food ads per hour per channel. Canadian children’s television also had the third highest proportion of unhealthy food ads, making up 82% of all food ads (Kelly et al., 2010).

A study by Veerman et al. (2009) suggested that between one in seven and one in three instances of childhood obesity in the U.S. could be prevented if television advertising for unhealthy food were eliminated. The research was based on a mathematical model using body measurement statistics of 6-12 year old children and literature that links advertising to consumption levels and consumption to body mass.

Magnus et al. (2009) concluded that restricting television food advertising to children could be one of the most cost-effective population-based interventions for governments to address overweight and obesity, based on data from Australia. The conclusion is based on a statistical analysis which showed that eliminating advertising of calorie-dense, nutrient-poor foods to children would improve health and reduce future healthcare costs. The research assumes that any decreases in childhood obesity would be maintained through to adulthood, thus reducing costs over the long term.

Finally, a new report from the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at Yale University is one of the best research reviews ever done on the vulnerability of young people to food marketing. Harris et al. (2009) conclude that all forms of marketing pose considerable risk, adolescents are also highly vulnerable, and food marketing may produce far-reaching negative health outcomes. However, the real value of the report is its proposed “food marketing defence model” which describes the conditions that are necessary for children, or adults for that matter, to effectively counter harmful food marketing practices. The authors argue that four conditions are critical: 1) awareness, 2) understanding, 3) ability, and 4) motivation to resist.

Harris' model is particularly helpful for public health advocacy efforts. It shows us that media literacy alone is not enough to counter the highly sophisticated media and marketing environment in which children live today. Children also need to have an in-depth understanding of commercial marketing, which means being at an advanced enough stage in their cognitive development to have an adult-level understanding of advertising’s persuasive intent. Even then, recent theories suggest that awareness and understanding are necessary, but not sufficient to protect young people from commercial marketing. They also need the ability to resist tempting images for unhealthy foods, and that requires “self-regulatory resources” — in other words, being able to say no.

The ability to self-regulate can be weakened when a person is tired or distracted: common conditions when children or adults view television ads. Marketing that associates foods with sound, characters, music, and images appealing to children is likely to reduce young people’s motivation to resist their influence, as well.

The comprehensive approach proposed by Harris et al. (2009) provides a sound basis for public health advocacy to restrict commercial advertising targeted to children, and opens our eyes to the potentially negative influences of food marketing on adolescents and adults.

 

 

Research

Harris, J.L., Brownell, K.D., & Bargh, J.A. (2009). The Food Marketing Defense Model: Integrating Psychological Research to Protect Youth and Inform Public Policy. Social Issues and Policy Review. Vol. 3(1): 211-271.

Kelly, B. et al. (2010). Television Food Advertising to Children: A Global Perspective. American Journal of Public Health (in progress).

Veerman, J.L., Van Beeck, E.F., Barendregt, J.J. & Mackenbach, J.P. (2009). By how much would limiting TV food advertising reduce childhood obesity? Eur J Public Health. Vol. 19(4):365-9.

Magnus, A., Haby, M.M, Carter, R. & Swinburn, B (2009). The cost-effectiveness of removing television advertising of high-fat and/or high-sugar food and beverages to Australian children. International Journal of Obesity. Vol. 33(10):1094-102.

World Health Organization (2009). “Prevention and control of noncommunicable diseases: implementation of the global strategy”. Executive Board, report by the Secretariat. November 26, 2009.