Open University

1. Food marketing to children
Mimi Tatlow-Golden
Lecturer, Developmental Psychology & Childhood
Co-Director, CCW@OU body, mind & media
@MimiTGolden @AdwarenessS

2. CONTENTS
2
01 IoI food marketing, knowledge & treat-giving
02 The data issue… magnifying harms
03 Current policy opportunities – Ireland & UK

3. Irish Heart Foundation
Images © Martin O’Brien, O’Brien Creative, Dublin

4. Mimi Tatlow-Golden, OU
Emma Boyland, U Liverpool
Monika Zalniurte, U Melbourne
Elizabeth Handsley, Flinders U
Jo Jewell, WHO
Joao Breda, WHO
Gauden Galea, WHO
Peer reviewed by
Clayton Hamilton, WHO
Jennifer Harris, Rudd Center, UConn
Jonathan Liberman, U Melbourne
UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989)
• Children have rights…
to protection of health, of privacy, and against economic exploitation
to participation (including in digital media)
• Parents should facilitate these rights
• States should support parents in this

5. 18 UK crisp, soft drink,
confectionery brands
£143m
Marketing spend 2016
http://obesityhealthalliance.org.uk/2017/10/11/press-release-health-costs-obesity-soaring-junk-food-companies-pour-millions-advertising/
£5.2m

6. Advertising effects
on children’s
eating 2%
variation
?
6
Ofcom 2006:
“experimental and survey studies… measured effects of advertising/
television are small. … suggest that such exposure accounts for
some 2% of the variation in food choice/obesity”
Livingstone, S. (2006). Television advertising of food and drink products to children. Research
Annexes 9-11. Ofcom.
Obesity Policy Research Unit UCL 2018:
“Bolton (1983) … television food advertising accounts for
2% of the variance in children’s snacking frequency”
BUT
“adjusted R2 for children’s commercial food exposure
…0.23, i.e. … 23% of the variance”
AND “very major limitations to this work”: [1977 data; high
SES only; no measure of ad exposure; measure of
snacking only; no accounting for indirect effects]
Russell, S., Viner, R. & Croker, H. (2018). Investigating the effect of food advertising on
children’s dietary intake. OPRU Briefing Paper. https://www.ucl.ac.uk/obesity-policy-
research-unit/sites/obesity-policy-research-unit/files/quantifying-effect-screen-
advertising-childhood-dietary-intake-obesity.pdf

7. IoI: Food marketing,
children’s knowledge &
adults’ treat-giving

8. WHO NP
74% not permitted
Permitted
UK Nutrient Profiling (NP)
53% not permitted
‘Advertised diet’ on Island of Ireland
Regulation-compliant children’s TV viewing
Viewing patterns: 4-6 years (NI/RoI)

9. ‘Healthy… or not?’
F&V high
awareness
Less for sweets,
treats, fast food as
not healthy
Matching food
brand logos to
food images at 5y:
>90% unhealthy
57% healthy

10. 10
Food Treats
N=1039 IoI
• Parents
• Grandparents,
• Childminders
• Education practitioners
‘Treats’:
Deserved, routine
Reasons for giving:
1. Reward good behaviour
2. Because child asks
3. To make child feel better
Foods given: 2/3 unhealthy

12. Economies of emotion,
through engagement,
entertainment
Brand Pages – Build a ‘closer
relationship’ with users
Ask them to ‘follow’ / ‘like’ /
‘tag’ others…
Economy of ‘likes’, approval,
networks…
Almost exclusively unhealthy
items/brands

13. ‘Great maturity needed not to fall for it’
‘Messages from people they idolise’
‘The prizes are things they can identify with
and want’
‘Advertising by stealth’
‘Dishonest’ – ‘immoral’
‘They're much more subtle than first
thought’
‘I asked my children if they see much online
advertising and they said yes, they did’
3 in 4 felt regulations ‘should apply’ online
PARENTS’
VIEWS

14. In social media, young adolescents…
Look more at unhealthy food brands compared to healthy-
or non-food brands… (eyetracking)
… recall and recognise unhealthy food brands more than
healthy- or non-food brands…
… would share content and like profiles more that feature
food marketing for unhealthy items
-> Unhealthy food items – role in adolescent identity and
relationships
Corcoran, Sheppard, Murphy, Boyland, Rooney & Tatlow-
Golden (in preparation)
email me mimi.tatlow-golden@open.ac.uk

15. 1. Amplifies TV, other effects
 reach
 recall
 brand likeability (Facebook,
2015)
70% increase of TV effects
(Microsoft, 2013)
2. Greater effects, less spend
x4 direct return, vs TV (Peterson,
2014)
x3 recall compared to control
groups
FB, 14 campaigns (Gibs & Bruich, 2010)
Digital marketing impact:
Industry research

16. The data issue…
magnifying harms

17. Data
extraction
& analysis
Nothing is too trivial or ephemeral for this harvesting:
Facebook ‘likes’, Google searches, emails, texts, photos, songs
and videos, location, communication patterns, networks,
purchases, movements, every click, misspelled word, page view
and more
Zuboff, 2015 p. 79

18. http://crackedlabs.org/en/corporate-surveillance

19. Johnny Ryan/Brave: Complaint to UK ICO & Ireland DPC
September 2018 https://brave.com/adtech-data-breach-complaint
19

20. Extensive ‘leakage’ of children’s data
5855 apps for kids Google Play
73% “transmitted sensitive information over the Internet”
(Reyes et al., 2018)

21. food marketing is enmeshed with the data issues…
21

22. International policy
recommendations
Opportunities in
Ireland & UK

23. States should “adopt laws
that prevent companies
from using insidious
marketing strategies”
UN Special Rapporteur on the right of
everyone to the enjoyment of the
highest attainable standard of physical
and mental health 2014
WHO Set of Recommendations
on the marketing of food and on-
alcoholic beverages to children
2010
WHO Ending Childhood Obesity
(ECHO) Commission Report
2016

24. 24
WHO update
October 2018
• State-, not self-regulation
• Comprehensive approach
• Marketing = all commercial promotion, not just
broadcast advertising
• Protect all children, not just under-12s
• Avoid ‘child proportion of audience’ measures
• Avoid excessive focus on ‘targeted at’
• Address brand equity and licensed characters
• Address brand marketing
• Adopt effective Nutrient Profiling systems
• Effective monitoring essential

25. 25
UK
• DHSC consultation: expected this year (Obesity ‘Chapter 2’ summer 2018)
• Obesity Health Alliance consulting with stakeholders
• Broadcast: 9pm watershed seems likely
• Digital: ICO currently working on Age Appropriate Design Guide (mandated by Data Protection Act)
• Draft Code will go out for commentary
Republic of Ireland
• Oireachtas Children’s Committee heard evidence spring/summer 2018
• Broadcast: Indications are BAI will review option of 9pm watershed
• Louth County Council has requested this - others could follow!
• Digital: Data Protection Act Section 30…? Yet to be commenced
• IHF #stoptargetingkids https://irishheart.ie/campaigns/stop-targeting-kids/sign-the-petition/
CURRENT OPPORTUNITIES for ACTION

26. thank you
@MimiTGolden
@AdwarenessS
mimi.tatlow-golden@open.ac.uk