Focus Area: Food Marketing

Examining Social-Media Marketing of Foods and Beverages that Targets Children and Adolescents and the Impact on Nutrition Decisions

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Food and beverage marketing to youth using social media has grown dramatically, with the leading companies pioneering digital practices that are transforming both advertising and ad measurement. It is critically important for the research, advocacy and public policy communities to be informed about these major new practices. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC), in particular, is More

Peeking Behind the Curtain: Food and Marketing Industry Research Supporting Digital Media Marketing to Children and Adolescents

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This report describes and provides examples of the types of digital marketing research utilized by the food and beverage industry and the potential effects it has on the health of children and adolescents. Researchers found that food and beverage industry, together with the companies they contract, are conducting three major types of research: 1) testing More

Analysis of Relationship Between Brand Advertising and Most Loved Brands by Kids

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According to a 2008 Federal Trade Commission report, overall expenditures to promote foods and beverages to children and adolescents in the United States were more than $1.6 billion annually. Studies indicate that exposure to food advertising influences children’s attitudes, preferences, and food purchase requests toward foods with low nutritional value. It is therefore important for More

Food and Beverage Marketing to Children and Adolescents: An Environment at Odds with Good Health? A Research Synthesis

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Children in the United States grow up in environments saturated by food and beverage marketing, the bulk of it for foods low in nutrients and high in calories, sugars, salt and fat. Food and beverage companies reach children and adolescents using integrated marketing communications strategies, which encompass all forms of communication about products and services. More

Food Marketing in the Digital Age: A Conceptual Framework and Agenda for Research

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This report provides a brief summary of how digital marketing works and the role it plays in promoting unhealthy food and beverages to children. Detailed in the report are key concepts of digital marketing; implications for young people’s health; challenges digital marketing concepts raise for researchers; and relevant theoretical models for understanding how the new More

Examining Consumers’ Understanding of Front-of-Package Nutrition Information Systems

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In May 2010 the White House Childhood Obesity Task Force identified the need to improve front-of-package (FOP) nutrition labels to help consumers when making purchasing decisions. Multiple competing industry-initiated labeling systems currently appear on packaged foods in the United States. This research team proposed a randomized-controlled trial to test consumers’ understanding of  several different types More

Defining Priorities and Optimal Research Designs for Studying the Impact of Digital Food Marketing on Adolescents

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Few studies have examined adolescent exposure to food marketing. This research gap is compounded by the dearth of academic studies of digital food marketing, especially regarding adolescents, who are exposed to increased food and beverage marketing on the Internet, cell phones and other digital platforms. Recent developments at the federal level reflect growing concerns that More

Examining Whether Cause Marketing by Soda Companies Mimics Tobacco-Industry Strategies to Thwart Regulation

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The sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) industry is increasingly using corporate social responsibility campaigns—particularly cause marketing appeals via social media—to reach young people. The purpose of this study is to assess how the current cause marketing and corporate social responsibility (CSR) campaigns of the SSB industry compare to the strategies articulated and practiced by the tobacco industry. More

Examining the Effects of Industry Self-Regulation on Televised Food Ads Seen by Children

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Televised food advertising to children has long been dominated by low-nutrient, high-calorie products. In response to public and policy-maker concern, 16 of the nation’s largest food conglomerates participate in a self-regulatory initiative in an effort to improve the nutritional quality of foods advertised to children, known as the Children’s Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative (CFBAI). More