Quantifying child and adolescent exposure to SSB marketing in national media

Introduction: Young people's exposure to television advertising for all beverages declined from 2003 to 2007; however, the majority of beverage advertising continues to promote high-sugar products. In addition, beverage companies utilize a wide variety of marketing programs to target young people. This presentation provides a comprehensive picture of young people's exposure to marketing for sugar-sweetened beverages in national media. Methods: We compiled data from syndicated media sources and field research to quantify exposure to television and radio ads, product placements, and digital, social and mobile media promoting sugar-sweetened beverages. We compared exposure by age group and other demographic breakdowns. These data were supplemented with content analyses to assess the messages commonly presented, including Spanish-language messages. Results: From 2008 to 2010, beverage advertising on television increased in most categories; notably, child and adolescent exposure to regular carbonated beverage ads doubled during this period. Beverage companies also used product placements on television more extensively than any other food category. Although beverage company websites tended to contain fewer youth-targeted features than sites for other food products, most maintained a substantial marketing presence on Facebook, Twitter and/or YouTube. The majority promoted regular carbonated beverages, fruit drinks, and other sugar-sweetened beverages. Discussion: In contrast to previous years, beverage companies increased their traditional advertising to young people in 2010, especially for carbonated beverages. In addition, they have widely embraced newer forms of marketing with extensive appeal to youth audiences. These findings highlight limitations of current industry self-regulatory pledges to reduce unhealthy food marketing to children.