State Law Approaches to Addressing Digital Food Marketing to Youth

State consumer protection laws have yet to fully catch up with advances in digital marketing. This report focuses on how existing state consumer protection law can be used to limit harmful digital marketing to children and adolescents. The report describes the key differences between digital and traditional food marketing and discusses a variety of digital More

Variation in Access to Sugar-Sweetened Beverages in Vending Machines Across Rural, Town and Urban High Schools

This paper examines the variation in high school student access to sugar-sweetened beverages through vending machines by geographic location (urban, town, or rural) in 26 schools in New Hampshire and Vermont. Advertisements on school vending machines were also compared. Researchers found that sugar-sweetened beverages were widely available in school vending machines, appearing and advertised most More

Food Marketing to Children on U.S. Spanish-Language Television

This paper analyzes food and beverage advertising on Spanish-language children’s television compared with advertising found on English-language programs. Researchers found that although the amount of food advertising was lower on Spanish-language channels than on English-language programs, the nutritional quality of foods advertised on Spanish-language channels was substantially poorer than on English-language channels. More than 84 More

It’s Not Just for Teens: Viral Marketing to Young Children

This legal issue brief focuses on “viral” or “word-of-mouth” marketing. Viral marketing campaigns are designed to mask their commercial origin, which raises multiple issues related to protecting consumers, especially young children. These campaigns are used to drive traffic to a firm’s website, Facebook page, or online marketing application. The brief describes viral marketing tactics used More

Developing a Legal Review and Toolkit for Reviewing the Health Claims for Food Marketed to Children and Their Families

The food industry often uses health claims to promote its products to consumers, including parents seeking nutritious options for their children. Parents and children in low-income and racial/ethnic minority households at greatest risk for childhood obesity are disproportionately exposed to these claims through advertising. Regulators can pursue deceptive and/or unfair health claims, but these actions More

Food and Beverage Marketing to Children and Adolescents: Limited Progress by 2012, Recommendations for the Future. A Research Review

The marketing of high-calorie and nutrient-poor foods and beverages is linked to overweight and obesity in the United States. American youths are still exposed to a disproportionate amount of marketing for unhealthy products across a variety of media and an examination of research and policy trends related to food and beverage marketing shows that industry More

Food and Beverage Marketing to Children and Adolescents: Limited Progress by 2012, Recommendations for the Future. An Issue Brief

The marketing of high-calorie and nutrient-poor foods and beverages is linked to overweight and obesity in the United States. American youths are still exposed to a disproportionate amount of marketing for unhealthy products across a variety of media and an examination of research and policy trends related to food and beverage marketing shows that industry More

Fast-Food Restaurant Advertising on Television and Its Influence on Youth Body Composition. Working Paper 18640

This paper discusses the results of the first study to analyze the effects of fast-food advertising on body composition among youths as measured by percentage body fat (PBF). The study also examined the sensitivity of these effects to measuring youth obesity using body mass index (BMI). Researchers found that exposure to fast-food restaurant advertising on More