Kid Influencer Marketing: Gaps in Current Policies and Research

Most food advertisements that children see are for unhealthy foods and beverages. Paying “influencers”—online celebrities with large social media fan bases—to endorse or promote products on their social media accounts is a relatively new tool that companies use to market their products. Engaging kid influencers has the added bonus of reaching younger audiences. Kids may More

Assessing the Public Health Impacts of the Children’s Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative

The Children’s Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative (CFBAI) is a voluntary industry initiative in which companies commit to featuring only foods meeting specific nutrition criteria in advertising directed primarily to children under age 12. New criteria that were announced in 2018 and went into effect in 2020 strengthened the nutrition standards and changed the criteria More

Creating Policy and Practice Guidelines to Protect Students from Digital Food Marketing on Educational Devices and Platforms

The massive shift to learning on digital devices makes the need for effective policies to address digital food marketing more urgent than ever. The proposed study aims to develop and disseminate digital food marketing (DM) policy and practice guidelines for state education agencies and school districts to limit DM to elementary and middle school students. More

A Rapid Review of Stocking and Marketing Practices Used to Sell Sugar-Sweetened Beverages in U.S. Food Stores

Sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) are a primary source of added sugars in the American diet. Habitual SSB consumption is associated with obesity and noncommunicable disease and is one factor contributing to U.S. health disparities. Public health responses to address marketing-mix and choice-architecture (MMCA) strategies used to sell SSB products may be required. Thus, our goal was More

Reducing Digital Marketing of Infant Formulas

Breastfeeding protects against overweight and obesity, asthma, eczema, and type-II diabetes, and has long-term health benefits for women. The health benefits of breastfeeding are so valuable that in 1981, the World Health Organization established the International Code of Marketing of Breast-Milk Substitutes (WHO Code) that prohibits marketing infant formula to the public. The U.S. has More

Understanding the Public Health Significance of the Children’s Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative

The Children’s Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative (CFBAI) is a voluntary industry initiative in which companies commit to feature only foods meeting specific nutrition criteria in advertising directed primarily to children under age 12. Uniform nutrition criteria were originally established in 2011, and new criteria will go into effect in January 2020. The public health More

Digital Food and Beverage Marketing Environments in a National Sample of Middle Schools: Implications for Policy and Practice

One promising approach to influence nutrition behavior is to limit food and beverage marketing to children. Children are a lucrative market and schools may be an effective setting in which to intervene. Studies have shown that marketing in schools is prevalent but little is known about digital marketing to students in the school setting. Researchers More

Reducing Marketing of Breast Milk Substitute Substitutes to Mothers: Formal Privacy Protections, Voluntary Industry Action and Digital Marketing Industry Accountability

Despite the evidence that breastfeeding is best for infants, expectant mothers and families with infants are bombarded with marketing for breast milk substitutes (BMS) in ever more intrusive ways via digital marketing techniques. The goal of this study is to conduct legal analysis and develop preliminary policy recommendations under United States law on the potential More