Weekend Reads | Advertising 'Junk Food' to Kids on Multiple Screens

by Kevin Schofield

If you're like me, you grew up watching kids' TV programs on Saturday morning (and occasionally on weekday afternoons). As if the shows weren't bad enough for us, we also remember the endless onslaught of ads for sugary cereals, drinks, and snacks through every commercial break. Well, in the true spirit of "it's not too late to save the next generation," in 2006, the Better Business Bureau established the Children's Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative (CFBAI) to try to curb advertising of junk food to kids. This weekend's read is a research report looking at how that effort has gone, and the results may surprise you.

There are now 21 participants in the CFBAI, representing many of the largest purveyors of unhealthy food targeted to children. They include the corporate parents of many familiar brands: Coke, Pepsi, and Dr. Pepper; Kellogg's, General Mills, and Post; Hershey, Nestle, Mars, and Hostess; and restaurant chains Burger King and McDonald's. Participants commit that "in advertising primarily directed to children, they will either not advertise foods or beverages to children at all or advertise only products that meet CFBAI's strict Uniform Nutrition Criteria."

In its early days, CFBAI participation wasn't nearly as strict: Companies could write their own nutrition guidelines. But starting in 2013, the consortium started piecing together uniform standards, and by 2018, it had a single, shared set. That said, it's all voluntary, and there aren't penalties for violating the CFBAI commitment other than potentially being kicked out of the group.

Researchers from the University of Illinois gathered several years of Nielsen television ratings data on the shows kids were watching and the advertising included in those shows. It surprised me to discover that largely, the companies have kept their word: In 2013, children ages 2—5 saw, on average, 1,703 food-related advertisements over the course of the year in TV shows targeting kids, but by 2022, that number had dropped to just 84. The numbers were similar for children ages 6—11: 1,745 in 2013, dropping to just 52 in 2022.

But there's a catch: It turns out that most of the food-related ads kids see aren't in programs directed toward kids, but in shows for audiences of all ages. In 2013, kids ages 2—5 saw 4,611 food-related ads during those shows, compared with 1,745 in kids' shows. By 2022, the food ads in those shows had also decreased substantially, but they still accounted for over 1,000 ads per year (though less than half of them were from CFBAI-participating companies).

The rest of the news is mixed. On the plus side, in 2022, almost none of the beverage ads in kids' shows was high in unhealthy "nutrients to limit." On the minus side, 100% of the snacks were. Also, the researchers found that Black children see disproportionately more food advertisements, even after adjusting for difference in the amount of TV they watch.

The report also notes that much of the decrease in ads seen on TV can be explained by the fact that kids are watching less TV; among kids ages 0—8, TV viewing decreased by more than 50%. But their overall screen time increased by 25%, and food-related advertising has followed them over to YouTube and other social-media platforms.

To close this loophole, the researchers suggest that the CFBAI commitment needs to be updated. Rather than addressing children's TV shows or, even more broadly, programming directed to kids, they say it should limit food-related advertising at specific hours of the day when children are most likely to be consuming media on screens. They also note that the CFBAI's Uniform Nutrition Criteria don't align well with the nutrition standards published by the Federal Trade Commission, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Food and Drug Administration, and the Department of Agriculture, which means a large fraction of the food-related ads still being shown to kids aren't really as nutritious as CFBAI participants would like us to believe.

It seems fair to say that the state of advertising junk food to children has improved, but it still isn't good. Though the times are changing, the battle seems to have moved to a new front as kids spend their time on different screens.

Trends in Children's Exposure to Food and Beverage Advertising on Television

Featured image via Vach cameraman/Shutterstock.com.