Unhealthy food and non-alcoholic beverage advertising on children\u2019s, youth and family free-to-air and digital television programmes in Thailand

Nongnuch Jaichuen,Sirinya Phulkerd,Bridget Kelly,Viroj Tangcharoensathien,Vuthiphan Vongmongkol,Stefanie Vandevijvere

doi:10.1186/s12889-018-5675-3

Nongnuch Jaichuen, Sirinya Phulkerd + Show 4 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-018-5675-3

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Abstract

BackgroundFood advertising is a key factor which influences children’s food preferences. This study assessed the rates, nutritional quality and contents of food and beverage advertising in children’s, youth and family television programmes in Thailand.MethodsFree TV was recorded for two weeks in March 2014 from six to ten am and three to eight pm on weekends and three to eight pm on weekdays across all four channels; a total of 344 h recorded. Digital TV was recorded across three channels for one week for 24 h per day in October 2014; a total 504 h recorded.ResultsFor Free TV, 1359 food advertisements were identified, with on average 2.9 non-core food advertisements per hour per channel. The most frequently advertised food products on free TV were sugar-sweetened drinks. The rates of advertisements containing promotional characters and premium offers were significantly higher for non-core than core foods, 1.2 versus 0.03 and 0.6 versus 0.0 per hour respectively. For Digital TV, 693 food advertisements were identified, with an average of one non-core food advertisement per hour per channel. The most frequently advertised food products on digital TV were baby and toddler milk formulae.ConclusionsFood and beverage advertising on Thai television is predominantly unhealthy. Therefore, the Government and related agencies should introduce and enforce policies to address this issue. Current regulations should be adapted to control both the frequency and nature of unhealthy on-air food marketing to protect the health of Thai children.

Highlights

Food advertising is a key factor which influences children’s food preferences
This work contributes to efforts to monitor food and non-alcoholic beverage promotions to children, as part of INFORMAS (International Network for Food and Obesity/Non-Communicable Diseases (NCD) research, Monitoring and Action Support), which is a global network of public-interest organisations and researchers that aims to monitor, benchmark and support public and private sector actions to create healthy food environments and reduce obesity, NonCommunicable Diseases (NCD) and their related inequalities [20]
Population and sample This was a nationwide study conducted across all channels of Free free-to-air commercial television (TV) and three channels of Digital TV (3 Family, LOCA and MCOT Family) in Thailand

Summary

Introduction

Food advertising is a key factor which influences children’s food preferences. At least 2.8 million global deaths per year are attributable to overweight or obesity [1]. In 2014, 11% of men and 15% of women aged 18 years and older were obese in Thailand, and an estimated 42 million children under five years of age were overweight in. The prevalence of obesity rose from 28.4% in 2009 to 32.9% 2014 among Thai men and from 40.7% in to 41.8% in the same period among women [3], while 9% of Thai children were overweight or obese in 2009 [4]. The food industry in Thailand, soft drink manufacturers, spends US$ 24.5 million per year on advertising their products [10].

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