Pester power and its consequences: do European children’s food purchasing requests relate to diet and weight outcomes?

Huang, Christina Y.; Reisch, Lucia A.; Gwozdz, Wencke; Molnár, Denés; Konstabel, Kenn; Michels, Nathalie; Tornaritis, M; Eiben, Gabriele; Siani, Alfonso; Fernández-Alvira, Juan Miguel; Ahrens, Wolfgang; Pigeot, Iris; Lissner, Lauren

doi:10.1017/s136898001600135x

Cited by 34 publications

(29 citation statements)

References 37 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Most foods marketed to children on television are for products high in sugar, fat, and sodium such as fast food, sweets, snacks, and unhealthy cereals [ 34 ]. Food advertising could lead to the child requesting the food through what has been termed the “nag factor” or “pester power” and could consequently influence what children eat [ 35 ]. This could further contribute to parent–child dissimilarity in the intake of foods high in sugar and fat.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Familial Resemblance in Dietary Intakes of Children, Adolescents, and Parents: Does Dietary Quality Play a Role?

et al. 2017

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Information on familial resemblance is important for the design of effective family-based interventions. We aimed to quantify familial correlations and estimate the proportion of variation attributable to genetic and shared environmental effects (i.e., familiality) for dietary intake variables and determine whether they vary by generation, sex, dietary quality, or by the age of the children. The study sample consisted of 1435 families (1007 mothers, 438 fathers, 1035 daughters, and 1080 sons) from the multi-center I.Family study. Dietary intake was assessed in parents and their 2–19 years old children using repeated 24-h dietary recalls, from which the usual energy and food intakes were estimated with the U.S. National Cancer Institute Method. Food items were categorized as healthy or unhealthy based on their sugar, fat, and fiber content. Interclass and intraclass correlations were calculated for relative pairs. Familiality was estimated using variance component methods. Parent–offspring (r = 0.11–0.33), sibling (r = 0.21–0.43), and spouse (r = 0.15–0.33) correlations were modest. Parent–offspring correlations were stronger for the intake of healthy (r = 0.33) than unhealthy (r = 0.10) foods. Familiality estimates were 61% (95% CI: 54–68%) for the intake of fruit and vegetables and the sum of healthy foods and only 30% (95% CI: 23–38%) for the sum of unhealthy foods. Familial factors explained a larger proportion of the variance in healthy food intake (71%; 95% CI: 62–81%) in younger children below the age of 11 than in older children equal or above the age of 11 (48%; 95% CI: 38–58%). Factors shared by family members such as genetics and/or the shared home environment play a stronger role in shaping children’s intake of healthy foods than unhealthy foods. This suggests that family-based interventions are likely to have greater effects when targeting healthy food choices and families with younger children, and that other sorts of intervention are needed to address the intake of unhealthy foods by children.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Familial Resemblance in Dietary Intakes of Children, Adolescents, and Parents: Does Dietary Quality Play a Role?

et al. 2017

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…SBC TV advertising features a wide array of brightly colored, animated and anthropomorphic characters that are highly appealing and memorable to young children. Evidence suggests that this marketing approach leads children to “pester” their parents for the advertised product (Huang et al, 2016). Additionally, this approach prompts young children to request multiple cereals, including the one with the most recent appeal (Bridges & Briesch, 2006).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Child-targeted TV advertising and preschoolers' consumption of high-sugar breakfast cereals

et al. 2017

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Breakfast cereals represent the most highly advertised packaged food on child-targeted television, and most ads are for cereals high in sugar. This study examined whether children's TV exposure to child-targeted, high-sugar breakfast cereal (SBC) ads was associated with their consumption of those SBC brands. Parents of 3- to 5-year-old children were recruited from pediatric and Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) clinics in Southern New Hampshire, USA, and completed a cross-sectional survey between April-December 2013. Parents reported their child's consumption of SBC brands; whether their child had watched any of 11 kids' channels in the past week; their child's TV viewing time; and socio-demographics. Children's exposure to child-targeted SBC TV ads was calculated by combining TV channel and viewing time with advertising data for SBC ads aired on kids' TV channels during the same timeframe. Five hundred forty-eight parents completed surveys; 52.7% had an annual household income of $50,000 or less. Children's mean age was 4.4 years, 51.6% were female, and 72.5% were non-Hispanic white. In the past week, 56.9% (N = 312) of children ate SBCs advertised on kids' channels. Overall, 40.6% of children were exposed to child-targeted SBC TV ads in the past week. In fully adjusted analyses, the number of SBC brands children consumed was positively associated with their exposure to child-targeted SBC ads. Children consumed 14% (RR = 1.14, 95% CI: 1.02, 1.27) more SBC brands for every 10 SBC ads seen in the past 7 days. Exposure to child-targeted SBC TV advertising is positively associated with SBC brand consumption among preschool-aged children. These findings support recommendations to limit the marketing of high-sugar foods to young children.

show abstract

“…15 Such product preferences can lead to increased "pester power," in which children beg parents for specific products or brands. [16][17][18][19][20] In fact, pester power results in $190 billion in sales each year. 21 Second, children ages #8 years have limited cognitive abilities to recognize advertising.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Child Social Media Influencers and Unhealthy Food Product Placement

Alruwaily¹,

Mangold²,

Greene³

et al. 2020

Pediatrics

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

OBJECTIVES: We aimed to determine the frequency with which kid influencers promote branded and unbranded food and drinks during their YouTube videos and assess the nutritional quality of food and drinks shown. METHODS: Researchers used Socialbakers data to identify the 5 most-watched kid influencers (ages 3 to 14 years) on YouTube in 2019. We searched for 50 of their most-watched videos and 50 of their videos that featured food and/or drinks on the thumbnail image of the video. We coded whether kid influencers consumed or played with food or toys, quantified the number of minutes food and/or drinks appeared, and recorded names of branded food and/or drinks. We assessed the nutritional quality of foods using the Nutrient Profile Model and identified the number of drinks with added sugar. RESULTS: A sample of 418 YouTube videos met the search criteria, and 179 of those videos featured food and/or drinks. Food and/or drinks were featured in those videos 291 times. Kid influencers' YouTube videos were collectively viewed .48 billion times, and videos featuring food and/or drinks were viewed 1 billion times. Most food and/or drinks were unhealthy branded items (n = 263; 90.34%; eg, McDonald's), followed by unhealthy unbranded items (n = 12; 4.1%; eg, hot dogs), healthy unbranded items (n = 9; 3.1%; eg, fruit), and healthy branded items (n = 7; 2.4%; eg, Yoplait yogurt). CONCLUSIONS: Kid influencers generate millions of impressions for unhealthy food and drink brands through product placement. The Federal Trade Commission should strengthen regulations regarding product placement on YouTube videos featuring young children. WHAT'S KNOWN ON THIS SUBJECT: Exposure to food advertising is associated with poor diet, and food companies have increased online advertising in response to growing social media use. Young children have limited cognitive abilities to recognize advertising, which may be exacerbated by branded influencer posts. WHAT THIS STUDY ADDS: This study is the first to document the array of unhealthy branded products promoted through YouTube kid influencers. Most food advertising research has focused on television commercials or online advertisements produced by companies. This new frontier has been largely unstudied.

show abstract

Pester power and its consequences: do European children’s food purchasing requests relate to diet and weight outcomes?

Cited by 34 publications

References 37 publications

Familial Resemblance in Dietary Intakes of Children, Adolescents, and Parents: Does Dietary Quality Play a Role?

Familial Resemblance in Dietary Intakes of Children, Adolescents, and Parents: Does Dietary Quality Play a Role?

Child-targeted TV advertising and preschoolers' consumption of high-sugar breakfast cereals

Child Social Media Influencers and Unhealthy Food Product Placement

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About