Live and trending: the next step for public health campaigns?

Abstract

Marketing strategies used by large corporations are rapidly evolving, through the development of novel technologies and multiple marketing channels favoured by young consumers. Formerly small-scale marketing approaches, such as providing free samples at local events, may now have a global reach when paired with live streaming on popular social media sites. The regulation of these live streaming platforms is hugely challenging and likely to remain so in the foreseeable future. To ensure that 'unhealthy' messages are not the only content seen by social media users, public health campaigns should invest in similar technologies in disseminating health promoting messages.