Soft Drinks and Sugar-Sweetened Beverages Advertising in Spain: Correlation between Nutritional Values and Advertising Discursive Strategies.

Mireia Montaña Blasco,Mònika Jiménez-Morales

doi:10.3390/ijerph17072335

Abstract

Spain ranks fifth among European countries for childhood obesity. Sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) and soft drinks (SDs) are consumed by 81% of the Spanish children weekly. Advertising is one of the factors that contributes to an obesogenic environment. This study correlated longitudinally the nutritional values of SSBs and SDs and advertising discursive strategies between 2013 and 2018 for all media. A mixed-methods approach was applied that included a quantitative analysis of advertising spend data, a content analysis and a study of the discursive strategies used in advertisements. In addition, the Nutri-score system was used in order to determine the nutritional quality of the beverages. The results were analyzed applying the Spanish advertising regulatory framework for obesity prevention. The main findings indicate an association between low nutritional value beverage advertisements and a discourse based on hedonistic elements. In order to prevent childhood obesity in Spain, a stricter regulation of advertising is necessary, especially in aspects such as the language used to present products and celebrity endorsements.

Highlights

One in three Spanish children is obese or overweight
We must highlight an annual increase in advertising spending on soft drinks (SDs) and sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) since 2014, which increased from nearly 32 million Euros in 2013 to over 53 million Euros in 2018
This review indicates that Spain has a serious problem of childhood obesity, the measures applied are insufficient

Summary

Introduction

One in three Spanish children is obese or overweight. This condition is a serious problem for public health, because of the extra medical cost of millions of euros [1], and because of its impact on physical and psychological factors among minors [2,3]. Advertising is one of the factors that greatly favors the obesogenic environment: Spanish children are exposed to an average of 9000 TV advertising campaigns per year [4], and the vast majority of these advertisements are for products of little or no nutritional value [5]. The consumption of SSBs in the same group was almost 16 L per family unit In this sense, scientific data indicate that Spanish children under nine years consume soft drinks and sugary drinks on a regular basis: 7% consume SDs and SSBs daily, 16% almost every day (4–6 days), 58% some days (1–3 days) and only 19% consume these types of drinks less than once a week. 12% of this consumption takes places during school breakfast [6]

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