The Impact of Social Media Influencers on Children's Dietary Behaviors.

Crystal R Smit,Thabo J Van Woudenberg,Laura Buijs,Kirsten E Bevelander,Moniek Buijzen

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02975

Abstract

Over the past years vlogs rapidly have become an attractive platform for food industries, sponsoring social media influencers to promote their products. As with more traditional media, social media influencers predominantly promote unhealthy drinks and foods that are high in sugar, fat, and salt – consumption of which may increase the risk of overweight, obesity, and non-communicable diseases. The aim of the current Brief Research Report is to examine the impact of vlogs on children’s unhealthy dietary behaviors. Drawing on longitudinal survey data from 453 8- to 12-year-old children, we analyzed the longitudinal relations between children’s frequency of watching vlogs and their consumption of unhealthy beverages and snacks. Structural path modeling analyses of three waves of data with 1-year intervals showed that children’s self-reported frequency of watching vlogs influenced consumption of unhealthy beverages 2 years later. The analyses did not yield significant relations for Unhealthy Snacks Consumption. The strength of the observed longitudinal relation between children’s Frequency of Watching Vlogs and Consumption of unhealthy beverages was comparable to previous findings regarding more traditional types of food marketing.

Highlights

In the debate about the childhood obesity crisis, food marketing in media is often named as one of the main causes for children’s unhealthy dietary behaviors (WHO, 2010; Boyland et al, 2016; Robinson et al, 2017)
Similar to traditional media such as television, “vlogs” by social media influencers are a popular platform for advertisers to target young audiences with food marketing (Tan et al, 2018; Folkvord et al, 2019)
The analyses consisted of two structural path models using Mplus Version 8.3, one for the influence of Frequency of Watching Vlogs on Unhealthy Beverages Consumption over time and one for the influence of Frequency of Watching Vlogs on Unhealthy Snacks Consumption over time

Summary

Introduction

In the debate about the childhood obesity crisis, food marketing in media is often named as one of the main causes for children’s unhealthy dietary behaviors (WHO, 2010; Boyland et al, 2016; Robinson et al, 2017). Similar to traditional media such as television, “vlogs” (i.e., video weblogs) by social media influencers are a popular platform for advertisers to target young audiences with food marketing (Tan et al, 2018; Folkvord et al, 2019). As is the case with food marketing in more traditional media, social media influencers predominantly promote drinks and foods that are high in sugar, fat, and salt (Coates et al, 2019; Folkvord et al, 2019). Consumption of these unhealthy products increases the risk of overweight, obesity, and non-communicable diseases (WHO, 2010).

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion