Research ArticleEvaluating Industry Self-Regulation of Food Marketing to Children
Introduction
Childhood obesity is a major threat to public health.1 Numerous factors are responsible for the epidemic, and children’s exposure to advertising for nutritionally poor foods is a significant contributor to the problem.2 The average child sees more than 5,500 televised food ads annually,3 leading to a range of adverse effects on eating habits.2, 4, 5 Most food commercials targeted at children promote low-nutrient, high-calorie products, such as sugared cereals, salted snacks, and fast foods.6, 7, 8 By contrast, genuinely healthy foods that should be part of a regular diet are rarely advertised to children.9, 10
A 2006 IOM report triggered ongoing public debate about the issue,11, 12 warning that unhealthy food advertising puts child health at risk.2 The IOM recommended that industry should improve their practices, noting,
If voluntary efforts related to advertising during children’s television programming are unsuccessful in shifting the emphasis away from high-calorie and low-nutrient foods and beverages to the advertising of healthful foods and beverages, Congress should enact legislation mandating the shift on both broadcast and cable television.2
The IOM report also recommended that licensed charactersa popular with children should be used solely to promote healthy products.2 Many children form parasocial bonds with favorite characters13; thus, character-based advertising is a uniquely powerful form of commercial persuasion.14, 15
The food and beverage industry responded by creating the Children’s Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative (CFBAI), a self-regulatory program.16 Participants in the CFBAI, which include 17 of the nation’s largest food companies, promise that child-directed ads will feature only healthier foods that meet nutritional standards specified by each company. All companies also commit to limit the use of licensed characters to advertising for healthy foods.
Industry self-regulation did not become fully functional until 2009. To evaluate the efficacy of the CFBAI, our research compares a sample of child-targeted food ads aired in 2007, before the CFBAI was announced, with an equivalent sample of 2013 food advertising, 4 years after industry self-regulation was fully implemented.
The study has two key foci. First, it assesses whether each company fulfilled all elements of its CFBAI pledge. Products advertised in child-targeted commercials were linked to their parent corporation and assessed for conformity with company-specific nutritional standards. For example, the Kellogg Company17 pledged that all child-targeted advertising will contain a maximum per serving of 200 calories, 2 g saturated fat/0 g trans fat, 230 mg sodium, and 12 g added sugar (Table 1). All ads for Kellogg products in the samples of advertising are identified and assessed for conformity with Kellogg’s specific nutrition criteria. That process is then repeated for all participating companies, each of which adopted varying pledge standards.
A second and more critical issue to examine is the impact of self-regulation on the overall environment of food advertising to children. Not all food companies participate in the CFBAI, meaning the initiative’s efforts could be diluted by advertising for less-healthy foods from non-participating companies. It is also possible that lax standards for defining healthy foods could undercut the impact of self-regulation. Accordingly, the study independently evaluates the nutritional quality of the overall marketplace of food advertising directed at children and compares the patterns observed once the initiative was in effect with previous levels.
To assess nutritional quality of advertised foods, the study uses measures based upon a U.S. DHHS food rating system, which is publicized widely as part of the agency’s Ways to Enhance Children’s Activity and Nutrition (WE CAN!) initiative.18
Section snippets
Study Sample
The study examines food advertising in children’s programs on broadcast and cable TV. Over a period of 10 weeks (February 1–April 15), one episode of each regularly scheduled children’s program that aired between 7:00am and 10:00pm on each targeted channel was recorded for analysis. The examined channels included five broadcast networks (ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC, CW) and two cable networks (Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon) that deliver large volumes of children’s programming. Children’s programs were
Results
One clear difference between food advertising in 2007 and 2013 involved the frequency of commercials. The rate at which food ads appeared during children’s programming dropped from 8.5 per hour in 2007 to 6.4 per hour in 2013 (Z=–4.5, p<0.001), a decline of roughly 25% (Table 2). Similarly, the average amount of time devoted to food advertising dropped from 3:29 minutes per hour to 2:21 minutes per hour over this period (Z=–3.73, p<0.001). Despite this reduction in volume, food commercials
Discussion
In response to public concern, the food industry implemented a program of self-regulation known as the CFBAI. In evaluating the efficacy of industry self-regulation, this study shows two highly dissonant findings. First, the CFBAI has completely fulfilled all specified commitments. The data confirm that all companies met their applicable pledges by advertising only products that meet nutritional guidelines stipulated by the parent corporation. Similarly, companies also fulfilled their pledge to
Acknowledgments
This research was supported by a grant from the Healthy Eating Research Program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to the first author.
No financial disclosures were reported by the authors of this paper.
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