Food marketing targets parents to influence children’s diets

Food marketing is a tried and tested strategy used to influence children’s diets, most commonly promoting unhealthy food and sugary drinks. In today’s post, VicHealth (@VicHealth) Research Fellow Alexandra Chung (@Chung_Alexandra) from Monash University (@Monash_FMNHS) explains some of the ways in which food industry marketing targets parents to influence young children’s diets.

Parents are a key target for food marketing

Parents select pre-packaged infant and toddler foods based on health claims which can be misleading. Photo credit: Karolina Kaboompics

Take a stroll down the baby aisle of the supermarket and you will see that baby food is big business. In Australia, baby food sales were worth $508.3 million in 2022. As primary caregivers responsible for choosing foods for their young children, parents are a prime target for food marketing by the baby food industry.

Curious to know more about how parents respond to this marketing, we recently examined how marketing strategies used on children’s foods impact parents’ intentions and behaviours when choosing food for their children. Findings showed that marketing techniques, including health and nutrition claims, claims that a product is 'natural', and images of fresh fruit and vegetables, all appealed to parents, even when present on unhealthy foods. These findings reinforce the idea that parents want to choose healthy food for their children.

Our research has shown that parent-appealing marketing is extensive on food packages, especially on foods for young children. Analysing the front-of-pack marketing techniques on baby and toddler foods available in Australian supermarkets, we found evidence of parent-appealing marketing on every package, with some products displaying up to 15 unique marketing features. This extensive use of marketing targeted towards parents is concerning.

Food marketing is powerful and effective

Food marketing is a powerful strategy used to engage consumers and drive sales. This commercial practice is prevalent across television, digital media, billboards and public transport, at community and elite sporting events, throughout supermarkets and other retail settings, and on food packaging.

Evidence shows that food marketing works. Exposure to food marketing has a negative influence on children’s dietary behaviours, increasing their consumption and preference for unhealthy food and drinks. Food marketing also undermines parents’ intentions to feed their children a healthy diet.

Many of the foods that are promoted through marketing are unhealthy, contributing to unhealthy dietary behaviours.  Unhealthy diets are a problem among Australian children. Almost all Australian children fall short of meeting the recommended intake of vegetables each day. At the same time, around one third of the daily energy in children’s diets comes from unhealthy or discretionary foods. In childhood, these unhealthy diets can lead to excess weight, sleep problems, behavioural issues and poor concentration. Among adults, unhealthy diets can cause excess weight, diabetes, cardiovascular disease and some cancers. Dietary patterns developed in childhood are likely to influence dietary patterns later in life, suggesting that there is a critical window of opportunity to establish healthy diets in childhood.

Protecting children’s diets from harmful marketing

Reducing the harmful influence of food marketing is one way we can address unhealthy diets. The World Health Organization (WHO) has urged governments to act and recently released policy guidance to support governments to design and implement policies that protect children from the harmful impacts of food marketing. The guidance recommends that policies be comprehensive; mandatory; protect children up to age 18 years of age; and use government-led nutrient profile models to classify foods to be restricted from marketing.

The growing body of research that demonstrates how parents are being targeted by food marketing suggests that policy guidance must also consider parent-directed marketing as a form of marketing that impacts children’s diets. Government-led regulation of all forms of marketing intended to influence children’s diets is urgently needed to protect children’s diets from commercial interests.

Alexandra Chung currently holds a VicHealth Postdoctoral Research Fellowship. Dr Chung’s research is integral to monitoring the Commercial Determinants of Children’s diets and their impact on children’s health. Her views may not reflect the position of VicHealth.  

 Posted by Susan Maury (@SusanMaury)