Start Date: November 2009

ID #: 66966

Principal Investigator: Lori Dorfman, DrPH, MPH

Co-Principal Investigator: Jeffrey Chester, MSW

Organization: Public Health Institute

Funding Round: Round 4

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As digital media become ever more present in children’s lives, public health researchers and policy-makers need to understand how the new marketing ecosystem infiltrates and influences consumers. Yet specialized, commercially-sponsored digital marketing research remains obscured from public view because much of it occurs outside the academy. This study will make highly accessible and visible an important body of research literature that is playing a critical role in shaping contemporary food and beverage marketing to children and youth. The specific aim of this work is to collect, catalogue, analyze and make available industry research reports on the effects of the techniques that embody contemporary food marketing practices to children and youth. The study will map the research on digital marketing and create a searchable, annotated database of industry research reports that are central to addressing concerns about digital advertising and childhood obesity.

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