REVIEW OF RESEARCH ON THE EFFECTS OF FOOD PROMOTION TO CHILDREN

This review was commissioned by the Food Standards Agency to examine the current
research evidence on:

• the extent and nature of food promotion to children

• the effect, if any, that this promotion has on their food knowledge, preferences and
behaviour.

A Children’s food promotion is dominated by television advertising, and the great

majority of this promotes the so-called ‘Big Four’ of pre-sugared breakfast cereals, soft-
drinks, confectionary and savoury snacks. In the last ten years advertising for fast food
outlets has rapidly increased. There is some evidence that the dominance of television
has recently begun to wane. The importance of strong, global branding reinforces a
need for multi-faceted communications combining television with merchandising, ‘tie-
ins’ and point of sale activity. The advertised diet contrasts sharply with that
recommended by public health advisors, and themes of fun and fantasy or taste, rather
than health and nutrition, are used to promote it to children. Meanwhile, the
recommended diet gets little promotional support.

B There is plenty of evidence that children notice and enjoy food promotion. However,
establishing whether this actually influences them is a complex problem. The review
tackled it by looking at studies that had examined possible effects on what children
know about food, their food preferences, their actual food behaviour (both buying and
eating), and their health outcomes (eg. obesity or cholesterol levels). The majority of
studies examined food advertising, but a few examined other forms of food promotion.
In terms of nutritional knowledge, food advertising seems to have little influence on
children’s general perceptions of what constitutes a healthy diet, but, in certain
contexts, it does have an effect on more specific types of nutritional knowledge. For
example, seeing soft drink and cereal adverts reduced primary aged children’s ability to
determine correctly whether or not certain products contained real fruit.

C The review also found evidence that food promotion influences children’s food
preferences and their purchase behaviour. A study of primary school children, for
instance, found that exposure to advertising influenced which foods they claimed to
like; and another showed that labelling and signage on a vending machine had an effect
on what was bought by secondary school pupils. A number of studies have also shown
that food advertising can influence what children eat. One, for example, showed that
advertising influenced a primary class’s choice of daily snack at playtime.

D The next step, of trying to establish whether or not a link exists between food
promotion and diet or obesity, is extremely difficult as it requires research to be done in
real world settings. A number of studies have attempted this by using amount of
television viewing as a proxy for exposure to television advertising. They have
established a clear link between television viewing and diet, obesity, and cholesterol
levels. It is impossible to say, however, whether this effect is caused by the advertising,
the sedentary nature of television viewing or snacking that might take place whilst
viewing. One study resolved this problem by taking a detailed diary of children’s viewing
habits. This showed that the more food adverts they saw, the more snacks and calories
they consumed.

E Thus the literature does suggest food promotion is influencing children’s diet in a
number of ways. This does not amount to proof; as noted above with this kind of
research, incontrovertible proof simply isn’t attainable. Nor do all studies point to this
conclusion; several have not found an effect. In addition, very few studies have
attempted to measure how strong these effects are relative to other factors influencing
children’s food choices. Nonetheless, many studies have found clear effects and they
have used sophisticated methodologies that make it possible to determine that i) these
effects are not just due to chance; ii) they are independent of other factors that may
influence diet, such as parents’ eating habits or attitudes; and iii) they occur at a brand
and category level.

F Furthermore, two factors suggest that these findings actually downplay the effect that
food promotion has on children. First, the literature focuses principally on television
advertising; the cumulative effect of this combined with other forms of promotion and
marketing is likely to be significantly greater. Second, the studies have looked at direct
effects on individual children, and understate indirect influences. For example,
promotion for fast food outlets may not only influence the child, but also encourage
parents to take them for meals and reinforce the idea that this is a normal and desirable
behaviour.

G This does not amount to proof of an effect, but in our view does provide sufficient
evidence to conclude that an effect exists. The debate should now shift to what action is
needed, and specifically to how the power of commercial marketing can be used to
bring about improvements in young people’s eating.

Questions 1-7

Reading Passage 1 has seven paragraphs, A-G.

Choose the most suitable heading for paragraphs A-G from the list of headings below.
Write the ppropriate number, i-x, in boxes 1-7 on your answer sheet.
List of Headings
i. General points of agreements and disagreements of researchers
ii. How much children really know about food
iii. Need to take action
iv. Advertising effects of the “Big Four”
v. Connection of advertising and children’s weight problems
vi. Evidence that advertising affects what children buy to eat
vii. How parents influence children’s eating habits
viii. Advertising’s focus on unhealthy options
ix. Children often buy what they want
x. Underestimating the effects advertising has on children
1. Paragraph A

2. paragraph B

3. Paragraph C

4. Paragraph D

5. Paragraph E

6. Paragraph F

7. Paragraph G

Questions 8-13

Do the following statements agree with the views of the writer in Reading Passage 1?

In boxes 8-13 on your answer sheet, write

 YES. if the statement agrees with the views of the writer

NO. if the statement contradicts the views of the writer

NOT GIVEN. if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this

8. There is little difference between the number of healthy food advertisements and
the number of unhealthy food advertisements.

9. TV advertising has successfully taught children nutritional knowledge

about vitamins and others.

10. It is hard to decide which aspect of TV viewing has caused weight problems of
children.

11. The preference of food for children is affected by their age and gender.

12. Wealthy parents tend to buy more “sensible food” for their children.

13. There is a lack of investigation on food promotion methods other than

TV advertising.