The Advertising Policies of Major Social Media Platforms Overlook the Imperative to Restrict the Exposure of Children and Adolescents to the Promotion of Unhealthy Foods and Beverages.

Evelyn Suk Yi Looi,Gary Sacks

doi:10.3390/ijerph17114172

Abstract

There have been global calls to action to protect children (aged <18) from exposure to the marketing of unhealthy foods and beverages (‘unhealthy foods’). In this context, the rising popularity of social media, particularly amongst adolescents, represents an important focus area. This study aimed to examine the advertising policies of major global social media platforms related to the advertising of unhealthy foods, and to identify opportunities for social media platforms to take action. We conducted a desk-based review of the advertising policies of the 16 largest social media platforms globally. We examined their publicly available advertising policies related to food and obesity, as well as in relation to other areas impacting public health. The advertising policies for 12 of the selected social media platforms were located. None of these platforms adopted comprehensive restrictions on the advertising of unhealthy foods, with only two platforms having relevant (but very limited) policies in the area. In comparison, 11 of the 12 social media platforms had policies restricting the advertising of alcohol, tobacco, gambling, and/or weight loss. There is, therefore, an opportunity for major social media platforms to voluntarily restrict the exposure of children to the marketing of unhealthy foods, which can contribute to efforts to improve populations’ diets.

Highlights

In 2020, a major report on child health and wellbeing, published by a joint World Health Organization (WHO)–United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF)–Lancet Commission, called for strong regulatory action to protect children from the marketing of unhealthy products, such as tobacco, alcohol and sugar-sweetened beverages [1]
Given the global imperative to protect children from exposure to unhealthy food marketing, and the weaknesses in the current regulation of unhealthy food marketing on social media from government and food industry stakeholders, this study aimed to examine the advertising policies of major global social media platforms related to the advertising of unhealthy foods, and to identify opportunities for social media platforms to take action to limit the exposure of children to the marketing of unhealthy foods
Snapchat had a policy requiring advertising pertaining to any food products to provide an accurate description of the characteristics and qualities of food production, with no additional restrictions on the advertising of unhealthy foods and beverages

Summary

Introduction

In 2020, a major report on child health and wellbeing, published by a joint World Health Organization (WHO)–United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF)–Lancet Commission, called for strong regulatory action to protect children (aged 0–18 years) from the marketing of unhealthy products, such as tobacco, alcohol and sugar-sweetened beverages [1]. This follows persistent global recommendations from the WHO for member states, the private sector and civil society organisations to restrict the marketing of food and non-alcoholic beverage products high in saturated fats, trans fatty acids, free sugars and/or salt (hereafter referred to as ‘unhealthy foods’) to children and adolescents globally [2,3]. Public Health 2020, 17, 4172; doi:10.3390/ijerph17114172 www.mdpi.com/journal/ijerph

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