Abstract
ObjectiveExposure to unhealthy food advertising is a known determinant of children’s poor dietary behaviours. The purpose of this study was to quantify and characterize Canadian children’s exposure to food advertising on broadcast television and examine trends over time.MethodsObjectively measured advertising exposure data for 19 food categories airing on 30 stations broadcast in Toronto were licenced for May 2011 and May 2019. Using ad ratings data, the average number of food advertisements viewed by children aged 2–11 years, overall, by food category and by type of television station (child-appealing, adolescent-appealing and generalist stations), was estimated per time period.ResultsIn May 2019, children viewed an average of 136 food advertisements on television, 20% fewer than in May 2011. More than half of advertisements viewed in May 2019 promoted unhealthy food categories such as fast food (43% of exposure), candy (6%), chocolate (6%) and regular soft drinks (5%) and only 17% of their total exposure occurred on child-appealing stations. Between May 2011 and May 2019, children’s exposure increased the most, in absolute terms, for savory snack foods (+7.2 ad exposures/child), fast food (+5.4) and regular soft drinks (+5.3) with most of these increases occurring on generalist stations.ConclusionCanadian children are still exposed to advertisements promoting unhealthy food categories on television despite voluntary restrictions adopted by some food companies. Statutory restrictions should be adopted and designed such that children are effectively protected from unhealthy food advertising on both stations intended for general audiences and those appealing to younger audiences.
Highlights
In Canada, high body mass index and dietary risk factors are responsible for the second and fifth largest burden of disease in the country, respectively (Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, 2019)
The largest relative increases were noted for cakes (+3392%) and regular soft drinks (+412%), while the largest relative decreases occurred for sports drinks (−95%) and portable snacks (−94%)
The greatest increases were noted for fast food (+18,907 ads), snack foods (+4937) and regular soft drinks (+4481), while the largest decreases were noted for yogurt (−4675), cookies (−2736) and portable snacks (−2246)
Summary
In Canada, high body mass index and dietary risk factors are responsible for the second and fifth largest burden of disease in the country, respectively (Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, 2019). The nutritional health of Canadian children is of particular concern given that 31% of them have excess weight or obesity and most have diets inconsistent with national dietary guidelines, with ultra-processed foods which are typically high in sodium, fat and/or sugar accounting for more than half (52–57%) of their caloric intake on average (Jessri et al, 2016; Moubarac, 2017; Rao et al, 2016). Food and beverage marketing, which overwhelmingly promotes energy-dense and nutrient-poor foods, has been established as an environmental determinant of children’s poor dietary behaviours (McGinnis et al, 2006; Norman et al, 2016; Sadeghirad et al, 2016). There is a global consensus that the marketing of foods high in sugar, fat and sodium to children should be restricted (World Health Organization, 2010)
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