Dataset Information

Food advertising during children's television programmes in Italy.

ABSTRACT:

Objective

Previous studies from European countries noted that food products promoted on TV for children did not comply with international guidelines, including the World Health Organization European Nutrient Profile Model (WHO-ENPM) and the EU Pledge Nutrition Criteria (EU-PNC, an initiative developed by leading food companies). We aim to provide new data from Italy.

Design

Evaluation of Italian TV advertisements. Data on nutritional values for food product advertised were compared with nutritional standards issued by the WHO-ENPM and the EU-PNC.

Setting

In total, 180 h of TV programmes from six Italian channels, 2016-2017.

Participants

Eight hundred and ten consecutive advertisements during children's programmes.

Results

Out of 810 advertisements, 90 (11·1 %) referred to food products. Among these, 84·5 % of the foods promoted did not meet the WHO-ENPM and 55·6 % the EU-PNC guidelines. Advertisements promoting sweet and salty snacks (i.e. ≥ 70 % of all foods) v. other food products showed higher non-compliance with both the WHO-ENPM (OR: 73·8; 95 % CI: 4·09, 1330) and the EU-PNC (OR: 9·21; 95 % CI: 2·82, 30·1).

Conclusions

In Italy, most food advertisements during children's programmes are not compliant with European nutritional standards. Almost all the advertisements for snacks do not meet international guidelines. As the WHO-ENPM guidelines do not propose standards for all the food products, including meals, there is an urgent need to define independent and easy-to-read guidelines for food advertisements targeting children. As a first step towards the complete ban of food advertisements targeting children recommended by other researchers, these guidelines should be enforced by all the TV broadcasts.

SUBMITTER: Gallus S

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10195307 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Food advertising during children's television programmes in Italy.

Gallus Silvano S Borroni Elisa E Stival Chiara C Kaur Sharanpreet S Davoli Sofia S Lugo Alessandra A Effertz Tobias T Garattini Silvio S Scaglioni Silvia S

Public health nutrition 20201118 14

<h4>Objective</h4>Previous studies from European countries noted that food products promoted on TV for children did not comply with international guidelines, including the World Health Organization European Nutrient Profile Model (WHO-ENPM) and the EU Pledge Nutrition Criteria (EU-PNC, an initiative developed by leading food companies). We aim to provide new data from Italy.<h4>Design</h4>Evaluation of Italian TV advertisements. Data on nutritional values for food product advertised were compare ...[more]

PMID: 33203501

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Project description:Reducing children's exposure to advertisements promoting unhealthy foods and beverages has been recognized by the World Health Organization as a key strategy to improve children's diets and reduce childhood obesity. To examine changes in children's exposure to food-related (food, beverage, and restaurant) television advertising, including for products high in nutrients to limit (NTL; ie, saturated fat, trans fat, total sugars, and sodium) based on federal Interagency Working Group guidelines, following changes in the voluntary industry self-regulatory Children's Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative (CFBAI). This repeated cross-sectional study used US television ratings data on advertising exposure from The Nielsen Company for 2013, 2014, 2015, 2018, and 2022. Food and beverage product advertisements were assessed for nutritional content. Participants included 2- to 5-year-old and 6-to 11-year-old children. Data analysis was performed from July 2023 to January 2024. Changes in CFBAI standards in 2014 and 2020. The primary outcome was the number of food-related advertisements seen per year and percentage of food and beverage product advertisements high in NTL, on all programming and children's programming (defined as ≥35% child audience share). From 2013 to 2022, total advertisements seen per year declined by 77.6% (from 4611 to 1035) for 2- to 5-year-olds and by 78.5% (from 4860 to 1046) for 6- to 11-year-olds. Advertisements seen on children's programming decreased by 95.1% (from 1703 to 84 per year) for 2- to 5-year-olds and by 97.0% (from 1745 to 52 per year) for 6- to 11-year-olds. The percentages of advertisements for products high in NTL decreased from 2013 to 2022 but were still high: 68.9% for all programming and 63.9% for children's programming for 2- to 5-year-olds, and 68.4% for all programming and 60.6% for children's programming for 6- to 11-year-olds. The majority (51%-52%) of CFBAI-member food and beverage advertisements on children's programming remained high in NTL. Black children saw more food-related television advertisements than White children (58% more for 2- to 5-year-olds and 72% more for 6- to 11-year-olds); however, the percentage of advertisements for food and beverage products high in NTL seen was similar by race. In this repeated cross-sectional study of children's exposure to food-related television advertisements, exposure via children's programming decreased substantially. However, most advertisements seen were still for unhealthy products, and exposure from all programming remained substantial. Findings of more than 90% of advertising exposure not from children's programming and more than 1000 food-related advertisements seen per year suggest the need for government regulations based on time of day rather than programming.

Dataset Information

Food advertising during children's television programmes in Italy.

Objective

Design

Setting

Participants

Results

Conclusions

Publications

Food advertising during children's television programmes in Italy.

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