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. 2017 Jun;20(9):1548-1556.
doi: 10.1017/S1368980017000520. Epub 2017 Apr 18.

Child-targeted fast-food television advertising exposure is linked with fast-food intake among pre-school children

Madeline A Dalton  1 , Meghan R Longacre  1 , Keith M Drake  2 , Lauren P Cleveland  1 , Jennifer L Harris  3 , Kristy Hendricks  1 , Linda J Titus  1
Affiliations

Child-targeted fast-food television advertising exposure is linked with fast-food intake among pre-school children

Madeline A Dalton et al. Public Health Nutr. 2017 Jun.

Abstract

Objective: To determine whether exposure to child-targeted fast-food (FF) television (TV) advertising is associated with children's FF intake in a non-experimental setting.

Design: Cross-sectional survey conducted April-December 2013. Parents reported their pre-school child's TV viewing time, channels watched and past-week FF consumption. Responses were combined with a list of FF commercials (ads) aired on children's TV channels during the same period to calculate children's exposure to child-targeted TV ads for the following chain FF restaurants: McDonald's, Subway and Wendy's (MSW).

Setting: Paediatric and Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) clinics in New Hampshire, USA.

Subjects: Parents (n 548) with a child of pre-school age.

Results: Children's mean age was 4·4 years; 43·2 % ate MSW in the past week. Among the 40·8 % exposed to MSW ads, 23·3 % had low, 34·2 % moderate and 42·5 % high exposure. McDonald's accounted for over 70 % of children's MSW ad exposure and consumption. Children's MSW consumption was significantly associated with their ad exposure, but not overall TV viewing time. After adjusting for demographics, socio-economic status and other screen time, moderate MSW ad exposure was associated with a 31 % (95 % CI 1·12, 1·53) increase and high MSW ad exposure with a 26 % (95 % CI 1·13, 1·41) increase in the likelihood of consuming MSW in the past week. Further adjustment for parent FF consumption did not change the findings substantially.

Conclusions: Exposure to child-targeted FF TV advertising is positively associated with FF consumption among children of pre-school age, highlighting the vulnerability of young children to persuasive advertising and supporting recommendations to limit child-directed FF marketing.

Keywords: Children; Fast-food advertising; Fast-food consumption; Television.

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Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Percentage of McDonald’s (formula image), Subway (formula image) and Wendy’s (formula image) commercials (ads) out of the total number of McDonald’s, Subway and Wendy’s (MSW) ads aired on children’s television (TV) channels between 06.00 and 23.00 hours or during child programming, USA, April–December 2013. *Currently known as Discovery Family
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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