Despite expert recommendations, U.S. parents often serve sugar-sweetened children’s drinks, including sweetened fruit-flavored drinks and toddler milks, to young children. This qualitative research explored parents’ understanding of common marketing tactics used to promote these drinks and whether they mislead parents to believe the drinks are healthy and/or necessary for children. We conducted nine focus groups in Washington, DC and Hartford, CT with parents of children (9–36 months) of diverse race/ethnicity and socioeconomic status (N = 50). Participants expressed widespread misperceptions about sweetened fruit-flavored drinks and toddler milks, including perceived healthfulness and benefits for children and confusion between sweetened and unsweetened drink categories (sweetened fruit-flavored drinks vs. juice, toddler milk vs. infant formula). They confirmed that common marketing strategies contributed to misperceptions, including front-of-package claims and marketing messages that imply benefits for children and/or hide problematic ingredients; cross-branding and product extensions from trusted brands; side-by-side shelf placement at retailers; lower price than healthier products; and targeted marketing to children and parents. Findings support the need for policies to address potentially misleading marketing of sweetened fruit-flavored drinks and toddler milks and revealed opportunities to reduce parents’ provision of these drinks through counter-marketing campaigns communicated via trusted sources.
Published: February 2022
ID #: 76374
Journal: Maternal & Child Nutrition
Authors: Fleming‐Milici F, Phaneuf L, Harris JL
Focus Areas: Beverages, Early Childhood
States: Connecticut, District of Columbia
Keywords: Front-of-package labeling, Sugar-sweetened beverages, Water
Resource Type: Journal Article
Age Groups: Pregnant women, infants and toddlers (ages 0 to 2), Preschool-age children (ages 3 to 5)
Related Research
October 2022
Effects of Sugary Drink Countermarketing Videos on Caregivers’ Attitudes and Intentions to Serve Fruit Drinks and Toddler Milks to Young Children
This study aimed to test the effects of countermarketing videos addressing common misperceptions about ingredients and claims on children’s sugary drinks. An online randomized controlled experiment was conducted in January 2021 with US caregivers (n = 600) of young children (aged 8‒37 months) to assess the effects of watching countermarketing versus control videos on intentions to serve MoreNovember 2023
State Agency Perspectives on Successes and Challenges of Administering the Child and Adult Care Food Program
The federal Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) improves nutrition and reduces food insecurity for young children while helping cover food costs for care providers and families. Despite its important benefits, the program is underutilized. This report uses qualitative interviews with state CACFP administrators representing 28 states to explore federal and state policies and practices that support or discourage CACFP participation among licensed child MoreNovember 2023