Effects of Advertising on Food Consumption Preferences in Children

Abstract

(1) Background: Childhood obesity is a public health problem. The purpose of this study was to know if exposure to commercial messages which advertise food products exerts any effect on the short-term consumption preferences of 4- to 6-year-old children. (2) Methods: A double-blind and randomized experimental design. Sample consisted of 421 boys and girls from twelve schools in a city in Spain. (3) Results: In three of the four product pairs shown, the products advertised in the intervention were preferred. In the results of applying the model for the first product pair presented, sugared cereals, the predictive variable which best explains the behavior of the preferences expressed is gender (Odds Ratio 0.285 (0.19–0.42); p < 0.05). For the second pair, chocolate cookies, the family’s nationality has a strong weight in the model. As regards the regression model calculated for the last pair (filled rolls), the predictive variable which showed having more influence was gender. Boys had a 1.39 times higher risk of selecting the advertised product than girls. (4) Conclusions: The persuasive effect of commercials has shown to be influential in a general, immediate, and significant way only in the case of products with wide brand awareness. This study reinforces the importance of advertising and emphasizes the need to initiate measures to control the content of TV commercials.

Psychosocial and Diet-Related Lifestyle Clusters in Overweight and Obesity

“…Sociocultural influences start in early childhood [ 82 , 83 ]. For instance, influences on lifestyle of food-related advertising [ 84 ] and consumption–leisure activities (e.g., abusive use of videogames or online activities) [ 85 ] in children and adolescents are increasingly being explored. This translates in the necessity of tailoring interventions more specific to target populations, dealing with obesity in a holistic and cross-disciplinary manner to fully understand all of its dimensions and to successfully give answer to the needs of individuals with excess weight from a startpoint of respect and help, beyond exclusively biomedical solutions that lead to medicalization, blaming and shaming, and discrimination of persons based on body size, appearance, or behaviour [ 86 , 87 ].…”

The Impact on Dietary Outcomes of Celebrities and Influencers in Marketing Unhealthy Foods to Children: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

“…The HFSS marketing exposure varied: TV advertisements, embedded in cartoons ( n = 2) [ 20 , 57 ], an online advertisement embedded in a YouTube clip ( n = 1) [ 52 ]; static Instagram posts ( n = 2) [ 53 , 54 ]; food product packaging ( n = 1) [ 55 ]; and printed advertisements ( n = 1) [ 56 ]. The celebrities featured influencers ( n = 3), sports celebrities ( n = 3), and a Hindi movie star ( n = 1).…”

“…The outcome measures were ad libitum consumption of snacks immediately following the advertising exposure (from which total calories consumed could be calculated) and self-reported consumption intention ( n = 3) [ 20 , 52 , 53 ], preference/snack choice between paired items ( n = 3) [ 54 , 55 , 57 ], and self-reported purchase intention ( n = 1) [ 56 ]. The HFSS products available for ad libitum consumption were crisps, chocolate biscuits, and jelly candy/chocolate buttons.…”

“…Calorie consumption following viewing of advertisements of HFSS products with celebrities was compared to consumption following non-food advertisements with or without celebrity endorsements in the three studies included in the meta-analysis [ 20 , 52 , 53 ]. Of the studies not included in the meta-analysis, two studies compared marketing of a HFSS product with celebrity endorsement to the same HFSS product without celebrity endorsement packaging [ 55 ] or print advertisement [ 56 ]; one study compared TV advertisements with celebrity endorsement for HFSS product to non-exposure or non-food TV advertisements [ 57 ]; and one study compared Instagram posts with influencers for HFSS products to Instagram posts with influencers for non-HFSS food products [ 54 ].…”

“…One found that when exposed to product packaging featuring an endorsement from a sports celebrity that product was chosen by participants significantly more when compared to the same product with no endorsement; however, this effect was only seen in boys [ 55 ]. Two studies found that preference for HFSS product was not significantly different with celebrity-endorsed HFSS product advertisement exposure compared to no advertisement exposure or non-food advertisement control [ 57 ] or non-HFSS food product [ 54 ]. The impact of SES was only reported in one study, which found no association between SES and food preference in response to HFSS advertising [ 55 ].…”