Research Roundup
Understanding parents’ perceptions of children’s exposure to unhealthy food marketing in digital and retail environments
2 August 2024
A study co-authored by researchers from Deakin University, University of Wollongong and The George Institute indicated that children are exposed to unhealthy food and non-alcoholic beverage marketing (UFM) across many media and settings, including digital media and the retail environment.
This study (1) aimed to understand caregivers’ (and parents’) perceptions of children’s exposure to UFM on digital devices and in supermarkets and support for policies to protect children from UFM in these settings.
From results of in-depth semi-structured interviews of 16 parents with children aged 7–12 years, four themes were identified.
The first theme was factors influencing parents’ concern for unhealthy food marketing in supermarkets and online. Parents perceived that children are impacted by unhealthy food marketing, but only “in the moment” i.e. a temporary impact on children’s food desires and pestering behaviours. Added to this is the parents’ inability to mitigate unhealthy food marketing as they viewed it as leading their children to pester them to buy marketed products, undermining their efforts to instil healthy eating behaviours.
The next theme pertained to parents who “don’t see” unhealthy food marketing on digital devices, limiting their awareness of exposure and impact.
The third theme related to mitigating unhealthy food marketing as children age is more difficult on digital devices but gets easier in supermarkets. While digital UFM was not linked to pestering, and parents had limited awareness of what their children saw online, parents still felt strongly that companies should not be allowed to target their children with UFM online and supported government intervention to protect their children.
The last theme covered policy with parents supporting policies that restrict unhealthy food marketing despite scepticism and varying perceptions of responsibility. While parents supported government policy actions for healthier supermarket environments, their views towards restricting UFM in supermarkets varied. Some parents felt it was their responsibility to mitigate supermarket marketing.
The authors concluded that these findings could be used to advocate for policy action in this area.
A strength of the study was that it included a novel approach to examining parental perceptions of UFM across both digital and retail channels. However, key limitations included the use of a paid recruitment company to gather participants which may introduce selection bias; a small sample size; and the bias towards female caregivers as participants.
The authors recommend that future research explore qualitative studies on older children i.e. adolescents’ and caregivers’ perspectives on UFM across digital and retail environments. This could provide valuable insights for developing age-specific policy interventions. Additionally, including a more diverse range of caregivers’ perspectives, such as fathers, is needed.
Reference
- Driessen C, Bennett R, Cameron AJ, Kelly B, Bhatti A, Backholer K. Understanding parents’ perceptions of children’s exposure to unhealthy food marketing in digital and retail environments Appetite Volume 200, 1 September 2024, 107553 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2024.107553
