We analyzed the use of persuasive advertising strategies by 18 food brands on TV and Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube in Brazil in April 2018. Advertising strategies were investigated from three groups: power of advertising strategies (n = 10) (e.g., use of licensed character, celebrities, awards, etc), use of the prize offering (n = 9) (e.g., pay 2 take 3 or more, gifts or collectable, limited edition, etc), and use of brand benefit claims (n = 8) (e.g., messages that exalt sensory-based characteristics such as flavor, taste, aroma and recommend how to use/consume the product, etc). Almost 90% of the brands were ultra-processed foods producers and they carried 52 ads on TV and 194 posts on social media platforms. A higher frequency of the strategy ‘cartoon/company owned character’ was found on TV ads (19.2%; p < 0.0001) in comparison to social media platforms (0% on the three platforms) while the presence of ‘famous sportsperson/team’ prevailed on YouTube (41.4%) in comparison to TV (19.2%), Facebook (10.9%) and Instagram (9.1%), p < 0.0001. On YouTube ads, the claims ‘sensory-based characteristics’ (86.2%), ‘suggested use’ (51.7%), and ‘emotive claims’ (31.0%) were more commonly seen in comparison to the other media, while the claims about ‘new brand developments’ (23.1%), ‘price’ (9.6%) and ‘suggesting to children and the whole family to use the advertised product’ (21.1%) prevailed on TV. Ultra-processed food brands are the main food companies that advertise on Brazilian TV and social media and the message transmitted by these brands varies in each media according to the advertising strategies that are used.

Objective: To investigate the advertising patterns on the posts of a fast-food chain in Brazil on three social media platforms in 2019. Design: An exploratory cross-sectional study. Setting: Advertising strategies on the posts of a major fast-food chain on their official Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube accounts. The strategies were investigated according to the INFORMAS protocol for food promotion monitoring. Principal component analysis (PCA) was employed to identify advertising patterns in each platform. Participants: 305 advertisements Results: Four advertising patterns were identified in the PCA of Facebook and Instagram. In both platforms, the components for kids and product exaltation were similar. On Facebook, a pattern corresponding to economic appeal was identified as price and discount, while on Instagram, this pattern also included a practical approach. On Facebook, the fourth component was named celebrity, while on Instagram it was celebrity/innovation since on this second social media the component also included the ‘new brand development’ variable. On YouTube, three advertising patterns were identified in PCA. Similar to the other platforms, the first and the second patterns were called for kids and price and discount, and the third component referred to both celebrity and commemorative dates. Conclusions: The advertising patterns of the fast-food chain on three social media platforms were commonly directed to children and addressed price, discounts, and the celebrities’ universe. The findings of this study corroborate other data in the literature regarding unhealthy food advertising on social media. This study discusses the urgency of regulating food advertising content on this medium.