Abstract
An extensive body of research evidence has accumulated about the nature, location and impact of food advertising and other marketing activities. There are also a number of major reviews of this research evidence that are examined further and critiqued here. These reviews focused on the different ways in which children could be influenced by food advertising and certain other types of marketing activity. These reviews helpfully map out the research landscape and key issues that social scientists have investigated in this field. This chapter examines the outcomes of these reviews to set the scene for more detailed examination of specific types of evidence linked to specific food and diet issues discussed later in the book. What emerges from this review of reviews is that food and non-alcoholic drinks advertising is and has for some years been prevalent in mainstream mass media and other popularly used promotional platforms around the world. Advertising for these products dominates the biggest advertising media such as television and has high visibility in places frequented by children. Hence, there are plentiful opportunities for young people to receive regular exposure to promotional messages for food and non-alcoholic drinks products. This advertising also often utilises techniques designed to appeal especially to children. Whether these food and drinks promotions cultivate specific dietary habits is less clear. It can certainly raise awareness of certain brands and may play a part in shaping children’s early preferences. Whether it plays a significant part in causing unhealthy diets and follow-on health problems is a more contentious issue, with some evidence supporting the idea that it does and other evidence casting doubt on this conclusion.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Ali, M., Blades, M., Oates, C., & Blumberg, F. (2009). Young children’s ability to recognise advertisements in web page designs. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 27(1), 71–83.
An, S., Jin, H. S., & Park, E. H. (2014). Children’s advertising literacy for advergames: Perception of the game as advertising. Journal of Advertising, 43(1), 63–72.
Berkeley Media Studies Group. (2011). Food and beverage marketing to children and adolescents: An environment at odds with good health. Robert Woods Johnson Foundation. Retrieved from http://healthyeatingresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/HER_RS_FoodMarketing_FINAL_4-6-11.pdf
Bottner, S., Ivens, B. S., & Hillebrand, I. (2016). Advertising directed at children—An empirical investigation from parents’ perspective on tv advertising and advergames. In Proceedings of the 2014 Academy of Marketing Science World Marketing Congress. Springer International Publishing.
British Heart Foundation. (2011). The 21st century gingerbread house: How companies are marketing junk food to children online. London: British Heart Foundation. Retrieved from https://www.bhf.org.uk/publications/policy-documents/the-21st-century-gingerbread-house
Bruce, A. S., Lepping, R. J., Bruce, J. M., Cherry, J. B. C., Martin, L. E., Davis, A. M., et al. (2013). Brain responses to food logos in obese and healthy weight children. Journal of Pediatrics, 162(4), 759–764.
Cairns, G., Angus, K., & Hastings, G. (2009, December). The extent, nature and effects of food promotion to children: A review of evidence to December 2008. Prepared for the World Health Organization. Geneva, Switzerland: World Health Organization.
Cairns, G., Angus, K., Hastings, G., & Caraher, M. (2014). Systematic reviews of the evidence on the nature, extent and effects of food marketing to children: A retrospective summary. Appetite, 62, 209–215.
Cheyne, A. D., Mejia, P., Nixon, L., & Dorfman, L. (2014). Food and beverage marketing to youth. Current Obesity Reports. Retrieved from http://www.bmsg.org/sites/default/files/bmsg_food_and_bev_mktg_to_youth.pdf
Clark, M., & Powell, C. (2013). Through the looking glass: A review of the topsy turvy world of the regulations that are supposed to (but don’t) protect children from online marketing of junk food. London: Children’s Food Campaign. Retrieved from http://www.schoolfoodmatters.com/files/CFC_LookingGlass.pdf
Clarke, B., & Svanaes, S. (2012, May). Digital Marketing and Advertising to Children: A Literature Review. Advertising Education Forum. Available at: http://www.apan.pt/media/97249/aef_digital_marketing_and_advertising_to_children.pdf
Cornish, L. S. (2014). Mum, can I play on the internet? Parents’ understanding, perception and responses to online advertising designed from children. International Journal of Advertising, 33(3), 437–473.
Dahl, S., Low, D., & Eagle, L. (2012). Mobile phone-based advergames. Australian and New Zealand Marketing Academy Conference, Adelaide, Australia. Retrieved from http://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/24195/
Gearhardt, A. N., Yokum, S., Stice, E., Harris, J. L., & Brownell, K. D. (2013). Relation of obesity to neural activation in response to food commercials. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 9(7), 932–938.
Harris, J. L., Schwartz, M. B., et al. (2013). Measuring progress in nutrition and marketing to children and teens. Yale Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity. Retrieved from http://www.fastfoodmarketing.org/media/FastFoodFACTS_report.pdf
Hastings, G., McDermott, L., Angus, K., Stead, M., & Thomson, S. (2006). The extent, nature and effects of food promotion to children, A review of the evidence technical paper prepared for the World Health Organization. Geneva, Switzerland: WHO. Retrieved from www.wholibdoc.who.int/publications/2007/9789241595247_eng
Hastings, G., Stead, M., McDermott, L., Forsyth, A., MacKintosh, A. M., Rayner, M., et al. (2003). Review of research on the effects of food promotion to children. Retrieved from www.food.gov.uk/multimedia/pdfs/foodpromotiontochildren1
Hastings, G., Stead, M., McDermott, L., Forsyth, A., MacKintosh, A., Rayner, M., et al. (2005, September). Review of research on the effects of food promotion to children. A report commissioned by the Food Standards Agency. Retrieved from www.foodstandards.gov.uk/multimedia/pdfs/promofoodchildrenexec
Holmberg, N., Sandberg, H., & Holmqvist, K. (2014). Advert saliency distracts children’s visual attention during task-oriented internet use. Frontiers in Psychology, 5(51). Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3921552/pdf/fpsyg-05-00051.pdf
Kraak, V., & Story, M. (2015). Influence of food companies’ brand mascots and entertainment companies’ cartoon media characters on children’s diet and health: A systematic review and research needs. Obesity Reviews, 16(2), 107–126.
Lee, M., Choi, Y., Quilliam, E. T., & Cole, R. T. (2009). Playing with food: Content analysis of food advergames. Journal of Consumer Affairs, 43(1), 129–154.
Livingstone, S. (2004, February). A commentary on the research evidence regarding the effects of food promotion on children. Report to Ofcom, London. Retrieved from www.ofcom.org.uk/research/consumer_audience_research/tv/food_ads/appendix1.pdf
Livingstone, S. (2005). Assessing the research base for the policy debate over the effects of food advertising to children. International Journal of Advertising, 24(3), 1–10.
Livingstone, S. (2006a). New research on advertising foods to children: An updated review of the literature. Media@LSE, Department of Media and Communication. Retrieved from http://www.lse.ac.uk/collections/media@lse/whoswho/sonialivingstone
Livingstone, S. (2006b). Does TV advertising make children fat? What the evidence tells us. Public Policy Research, 13(1), 54–61.
Livingstone, S., & Helsper, E. (2004). Advertising ‘unhealthy’ foods to children: Understanding promotion in the context of children’s daily lives. A review of the literature for the Market Research Department of the Office of Communication (Ofcom). London: Ofcom. Retrieved from www.ofcom.org.uk/research/consumer_audience_research/tv/food_ads/appendix2.pdf
McGinnis, J. M. (2008, September 23). Food marketing to children and youth. The National Press Academies. Retrieved April 1, 2014, from www.7.nationalacademies.org/ocga/testimony/Food_Marketing_to_Children_and_Youth
McDermitt, L., Forsyth, A., MacKintosh, A. M. et al. (2004)Desk Research to Examine the Effects of Food Marketing on Children: Report to the World Health Organization. Glasgow, UK: University of Strathclyde, Centre for Social Marketing.
McGinnis, J. M., Gootman, J. A., & Kraak, V. I. (2006). Food marketing to children and youth: Threat or opportunity? Washington, DC: National Academies Press.
Nadeau, M.-E. (2011, January). Food advertising directed at children: Review of effects, strategies, and tactics. Quebec Coalition on Weight-Related Problems, Quebec, Canada.
Newman, N., & Oates, C. (2014). Parental mediation of food marketing communications aimed at children. International Journal of Advertising, 33(3), 579–598.
Oates, C., Li, S., & Blades, M. (2014). Becoming knowledgeable consumers: The ability of young children to recognise when they are being targeted by marketers in different media. Child and Teen Consumption Conference, Edinburgh, Scotland.
Opree, S. J., Buijzen, M., van Reijmersdal, E. A., & Valenberg, P. (2014). Children’s advertising exposure: Assessing the reliability and validity of survey measures. Child and Teen Consumption Conference, Edinburgh, Scotland.
Owen, L., Lewis, C., Auty, S., & Buijzen, M. (2013). Is children’s understanding of non-traditional advertising comparable to their understanding of television advertising? Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, 32(2), 195–206.
Paliwoda, S., & Crawford, I. (2003, December). An analysis of the Hastings review. Commissioned by the Food Advertising Unit (FAU) for the Advertising Association, London. Retrieved from www.adassoc.org.uk/hastings_review_analysis_dec03
Powell, L. M., Szczpka, G., & Chaloupka, F. (2010). Trends in exposure to television food advertisements among children and adolescents in the United States. Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine, 164(9), 794–802.
Sandberg, H. (2011) Tiger talk and candy king; Marketing of unhealthy food and beverages to Swedish children. Communication, 36(2), 794–802.
Sonntag, D., Schneider, S., Mdege, N., Ali, S., & Scmidt, B. (2015). Beyond food promotion: A systematic review on the influence of the food industry on obesity-related dietary behaviour among children. Nutrients, 7(10), 8565–8576.
Swinburn, B., Egger, G., & Raza, F. (1999). Dissecting obesogenic environments: The development and application of a framework for identifying and prioritizing environmental interventions for obesity. Preventive Medicine, 29, 563–576.
Valkenburg, P., & Peter, J. (2013). Five challenges for the future of media effects research. International Journal of Communication, 7, 197–215.
Waiguny, M. K. J., Nelson, M. R., & Perlutter, R. (2013). The relationship of persuasion knowledge, identification of commercial intent and persuasion outcomes in advergames—The role of media context and presence. Journal of Consumer Policy, 37(2), 1–21.
WHO. (2010). Set of recommendations on the marketing of foods and non-alcoholic beverages to children. Geneva, Switzerland: World Health Organisation. Retrieved June 10, 2014, from www.who.int/dietphysicalactivity/marketing-food-to-children/en/index.html
WHO. (2013). Marketing of foods high in fat, salt and sugar to children: Update 2012-2013. Copenhagen: World Health Organisation. Retrieved February 10, 2016, from http://www.euro.who.int/__data/assets/pdf_file/0019/191125/e96859.pdf
Wilking, C., Gottlieb, M., Bonacore, M., Cheyne, A., Mejia, P., Dorfman, L., et al. (2013). State law approaches to address digital food marketing to youth. Boston, MA: Public Health Advocacy Institute. Retrieved February 10, 2016, from http://www.bmsg.org/resources/publications/state-law-approaches-address-digital-food-marketing-youth-executive-summary
Wollslager, M. E. (2009). Children’s awareness of online advertising on neopets: The effect of media literacy training on recall. SIMILE: Studies in Media & Information Literacy Education, 9(2), 31–53.
Young, B. M. (2003). Does food advertising influence children’s food choices? A critical review of some of the recent literature. International Journal of Advertising, 22, 441–459.
Young, B. M., & Hetherington, M. (1996). The literature on advertising and children’s food choice. Nutrition and Food Science, 5, 15–18.
Young, B., Webley, P., Hetherington, M., & Zeedyk, S. (1996). The role of advertising in children’s food choice. London: Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2016 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Gunter, B. (2016). What is the Balance of Evidence for the Effects of Food Advertising?. In: Food Advertising. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-40706-7_2
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-40706-7_2
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-40705-0
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-40706-7
eBook Packages: Literature, Cultural and Media StudiesLiterature, Cultural and Media Studies (R0)