Examining the Relationship between Youth-Targeted Food Marketing Expenditures and the Demographics of Social Media Followers.

Pasquale E Rummo,Jaime A Coffino,Omni Cassidy,Marie A Bragg,Ingrid Wells

doi:10.3390/ijerph17051631

Abstract

Background: To determine how many adolescents follow food/beverage brands on Instagram and Twitter, and examine associations between brands’ youth-targeted marketing practices and percentages of adolescent followers. Methods: We purchased data from Demographics Pro to characterize the demographics of Twitter and Instagram users who followed 27 of the most highly advertised fast food, snack, and drink brands in 2019. We used one-sample t-tests to compare percentages of adolescent followers of the selected brands’ accounts versus all social media accounts, independent samples t-tests to compare followers of sugary versus low-calorie drink brands, and linear regression to examine associations between youth-targeted marketing practices and the percentages of adolescent followers. Results: An estimated 6.2 million adolescents followed the selected brands. A higher percentage of adolescents followed the selected brands’ accounts (9.2%) compared to any account on Twitter (1.2%) (p < 0.001), but not Instagram. A higher percentage of adolescents followed sugary (7.9%) versus low-calorie drink brands (4.3%) on Instagram (p = 0.02), but we observed the opposite pattern for adults on Twitter and Instagram. Television advertising expenditures were positively associated with percentages of adolescent followers of the selected brands on Twitter (p = 0.03), but not Instagram. Conclusions: Food and sugary drink brands maintain millions of adolescent followers on social media.

Highlights

Poor diet places youth at increased risk of excessive weight gain and chronic health conditions during adulthood [1]
As of January 2019, there were an estimated 73.1 million social media users of any age who followed this sample of food and beverage brands on Instagram and/or Twitter
These brands had more followers on Instagram (n = 55.9 million) than Twitter (n = 17.2 million), though these figures may include users who followed multiple food/beverage brand accounts on both social media platforms Table 1

Summary

Introduction

Poor diet places youth at increased risk of excessive weight gain and chronic health conditions (e.g., type 2 diabetes, heart disease) during adulthood [1]. Nearly half of those expenditures (US$77 million) is spent on food advertisements that are placed on websites and digital platforms [4] This investment in digital marketing has grown in tandem with consumers’ increasing engagement with online forms of media [5,6,7]. To determine how many adolescents follow food/beverage brands on Instagram and Twitter, and examine associations between brands’ youth-targeted marketing practices and percentages of adolescent followers. We used one-sample t-tests to compare percentages of adolescent followers of the selected brands’ accounts versus all social media accounts, independent samples t-tests to compare followers of sugary versus low-calorie drink brands, and linear regression to examine associations between youth-targeted marketing practices and the percentages of adolescent followers. Conclusions: Food and sugary drink brands maintain millions of adolescent followers on social media

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion