Abstract
Background: Marketing, including the use of cartoon animations on packaging, has been shown to influence the food children choose to eat. This paper aims to determine the nutritional quality of UK food and drink products featuring child-friendly characters on pack. Methods: A comprehensive cross-sectional survey of food and drink with packaging appealing to children available in the UK. Products were classified high in fat, salt and/or sugar (HFSS) according to the UK nutrient profiling model and guidance for front of pack nutrition labelling. Logistic regression was used to determine whether there was a significant relationship between nutritional quality of products, and animation type. Results: Over half (51%) of 532 products with animations on packaging were classified as HFSS. Food products featuring unlicensed characters were significantly more likely to be deemed HFSS than those with licensed characters, according to both the nutrient profiling model (odds ratio (OR) 2.1, 95% CI: 1.3 to 3.4) and front of pack nutrition labelling system (OR 2.3, 95% confidence interval CI: 1.4 to 3.7). Conclusions: The use of cartoon characters on HFSS products is widespread. Policies to restrict the use of such marketing tactics should be considered to prevent children being targeted with unhealthy foods and drinks.
Highlights
Children consume excess amounts of calories, fat, saturated fat, salt and sugar
The purpose of this study is to document the nutrition content of products with packaging that would appeal to young children available in all major UK retailers, and establish if they would be considered unhealthy according to two models; Department of Health & Social Care (DHSC)’s nutrient profiling model, which is widely used by industry, and the UK’s front of pack colour coded labelling system
Products featuring unlicensed characters were twice as likely to be deemed HFSS (odds ratio (OR) 2.1, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.3 to 3.4 and OR 2.3, 95% CI: 1.4 to
Summary
Children consume excess amounts of calories, fat, saturated fat, salt and sugar. The latest set of comprehensive data on diet and nutrition intake in the UK population from 2015/2016 [1] found children exceed the government recommendation on free sugars by an average of 8.3% (total average intake of 13.3% for those between the ages of 1.5 years and 18 years). Those between the ages of 4 and 18 were exceeding an adult woman’s recommendation of consuming no more than 20 g of saturated fat a day. Policies to restrict the use of such marketing tactics should be considered to prevent children being targeted with unhealthy foods and drinks
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