Abstract
BackgroundFood and beverage marketing has been identified as an environmental determinant of childhood obesity. The purpose of this study is to assess whether the Uniform Nutrition Criteria established and implemented by companies participating in the self-regulatory Canadian Children’s Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative (CAI) had an impact on the healthfulness of food and beverage advertising during television programming with a high share of children in the viewing audience.MethodsData on food advertising were licensed from Numeris for 27 television stations for Toronto for May 2013 and May 2016 (i.e. before and after the implementation of the nutrition criteria). First, television programs that had a child audience share of ≥35% (when the nutrition criteria applied) were identified. Ten percent of these programs were randomly selected and included in the study. After identifying the food and beverage ads that aired during these programs, the nutritional information of advertised products was collected and their healthfulness was assessed using the Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO) and UK Nutrient Profile Models (NPM). The healthfulness of CAI products advertised in May 2013 and 2016 was compared using Chi-square tests.ResultsAlthough in May 2016, products advertised by CAI companies were more likely to be categorized as healthier by the UK NPM (21.5% versus 6.7%, χ2(1) = 12.1,p = 000) compared to those advertised in May 2013, the frequency of advertised products considered less healthy in May 2016 remained very high (78.5%) and comparable to that of products advertised by companies not participating in the CAI (80.0% categorized as less healthy). Furthermore, in both May 2013 and May 2016, 99–100% of CAI advertisements featured products deemed excessive in either fat (total, saturated, trans), sodium or free sugars according to the PAHO NPM.ConclusionsDespite modest improvements noted after the implementation of the CAI’s Uniform Nutrition Criteria, the healthfulness of most products advertised during programs with a high share of children in the viewing audience remains poor. Mandatory regulations are needed.
Highlights
Food and beverage marketing has been identified as an environmental determinant of childhood obesity
The objective of this study was to fill this gap and assess whether the Children’s Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative (CAI) Uniform Nutrition Criteria has improved the healthfulness of food/beverage advertising during television programming where children make-up a large share
A quasi-experimental pre-post design with a control group was used in this study to compare the nutritional quality of foods/beverages advertised to children aged 2– 11 when viewership of this age group was equal to or greater than 35% in May 2013 and in May 2016
Summary
Food and beverage marketing has been identified as an environmental determinant of childhood obesity. An extensive body of research has shown that children’s exposure to this marketing, much of which promotes food and beverages of low nutritional quality, influences their dietary preferences, purchasing behaviors, and consumption patterns [1,2,3,4]. 18 companies participate including Coca Cola, Danone, General Mills, McDonald’s, and Nestlé, among others (see Table 1) [7] Under this initiative, eleven companies have committed to not advertise to children less than 12 years old while the remainder have pledged to exclusively advertise “better-for-you” products (as defined by the companies themselves) in various media including television [8]. Hershey Canada has pledged to not advertise at all during television programs where children make-up 30% of the audience, while Kellogg’s has committed to only advertise “better-for-you” products, such as Froot Loops cereal, when children make-up 35% or more of the viewing audience [8]
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