The New Age of Food Marketing: How Companies are Targeting and Luring Our Kids – and What Advocates Can Do About It

This report provides a snapshot of five categories of marketing tactics used by fast food, snack food, and soft drink companies to target children and adolescents. These categories include: 1) creating immersive environments; 2) infiltrating social networks; 3) location-based and mobile marketing; 4) collecting personal data; and 5) studying and triggering the subconscious. Descriptions of More

Issue Brief: Reining in Pester Power Food and Beverage Marketing

This legal issue brief focuses on “pester power” food and beverage marketing, in which young children are targeted by marketers in an effort to get them to encourage their parents to purchase products for them. In the brief, pester power marketing is analyzed under existing state consumer protection laws and two primary legal theories: (1) More

Major Findings from 50-State Survey of State Consumer Protection Law to Limit Junk Food Marketing to Children

This report summarizes findings from a 50-state survey of state consumer protection laws to identify key statutes that hold promise to protect children when they are the targets of marketing for unhealthy food and beverage marketing. The authors apply a consumer protection legal framework by dividing children’s food and beverage marketing into three categories: a) More

Industry Progress to Market a Healthful Diet to American Children and Adolescents

In a 2005 report, Food Marketing to Children and Youth: Threat or Opportunity, an IOM expert committee concluded that prevailing food and beverage marketing practices did not support a healthful diet and provided recommendations to guide diverse stakeholders to promote a healthful diet to children and adolescents. This paper reviews the available evidence between December More

Analyzing the Legal Authority of State Attorneys General to Limit Unfair and Deceptive Digital Food Marketing to Children

Food marketing that employs computers and mobile devices to engage young people has exploded in recent years and can directly target and geo-locate children, often without parental knowledge. State Attorneys General (AGs) have authority to protect the public from Unfair and Deceptive Acts and Practices (UDAP). Digital marketing that bypasses parents and is designed to More

Framing Messages for Taxes on Sugar-Sweetened Beverages

Evidence indicates that sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) taxes may reduce rates of childhood obesity, particularly among high-risk populations. However, state and local efforts to enact SSB taxes have been unsuccessful, and public opinion research indicates limited support for these policies. Enactment of SSB taxes will be unlikely without public support, yet little research is available to More

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

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

News Media Framing of Childhood Obesity in the United States from 2000 to 2009

This article assesses how the news media framed the causes of childhood obesity and potential solutions to the problem over a ten-year period (2000-2009). Researchers found that by 2003, childhood obesity was on the news media’s agenda and remained so until 2007, after which coverage decreased. Overall, news stories were equally likely to attribute childhood More

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

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