Food and beverage brands that market to children and adolescents on the internet: A content analysis of branded web sites

• Citation: Henry, A.E. & Story, M. (2009). Food and beverage brands that market to children and adolescents on the internet:  A content analysis of branded web sites. Journal of  Nutrition Education and Behavior 41(5), 353-359.

• Additional information: Here is a PDF by the Robert Wood Foundation on food and beverage marketing to children.

• Key Points from Henry & Story (2009):

Henry and Story conducted a systematic content analysis of food and beverage brand Web sites, in the US, that have “designated children’s areas” (DCA) to assess marketing techniques used and evaluate the “nutritional quality” of 130 branded items marketed toward children.

Key Point 1: The authors referred to “America’s Top 2000 Brands” report, which featured 2000 brands that put the most money into brand advertising in 2004. From the report, they identified 130 food brands and rated each brand’s websites to identify those with DCAs such as “just for kids” (inter-rater reliability determined 92% agreement). Sites without DCA were analyzed separately. Based on the National Alliance for Nutrition and Activity’s (NANA) nutrition standards, a nutritional analysis was conducted to determine nutritional quality of the food items (food and beverages). Researchers also considered “fast-food brands,” which were obviously identified as being low in nutritional quality as more than half the menu items did not meet the specified nutrition criteria (Henry & Story, 2009).

Key Point 2: In relation to marketing techniques, there were noticeable differences between sites with DCA and those without DCA. For example (Henry & Story, 2009): 77% of the DCA sites had interactive components, compared to only 46% for non-DCA sites; DCA sites had more promotional items than non-DCA sites (65% vs. 43%); most of the DCA sites had more opportunities to play “advergames” compared to non-DCA sites (84% vs 19%). In relation to the nutritional analysis, a shocking 13% of the DCA sites met all of the nutrition criteria (see table 1 for criteria used) compared to 18% of the non-DCA sites.

Key Point 3: “Food manufacturers use a number of promotional strategies to sell their products, including brand promotions, tie-ins to other brands or products, and sweepstakes or contests.” “There are few restriction for food advertising on the internet.” Even though there were “ad break warnings” on 1/3 of the DCA sites, children may not understand the nature or wording of the disclaimer. In addition, it can be difficult locate nutrition information and younger children are unlikely to understand the information and its “implications on health.” Henry and Story (2009) indicate that a number of literature concluded that “food advertising influences the food preferences, purchases, and consumption behavior of children.” It’s highly unlikely for children under 10 years of age to “recognize the persuasive intent of advertisement.”

I recently submitted the following paper about community-based participatory research (CBPR). For those who are not familiar with CBPR, it’s a “postnormal” approach to qualitative research by involving stakeholders, from the target community, in the whole research approach. Here is a Wikipedia link about CBPR.

By Ali Al-Rajhi

Discussing Community Based Participatory Research in relation to obesity

Citation for the main paper :

Goh, Y., Bogart, L.M., Sipple-Asher, B.K. et al. (2009). Using community-based participatory research to identify potential interventions to overcome barriers to adolescents’ healthy eating and physical activity. Journal of Behavioral Medicine 32(5), 491-502.

Key Points from Goh et al. (2009):

Goh and his research team implemented a community-based participatory approach (CBPR) to explore barriers to healthy eating and physical activity amongst adolescents. Through the CBPR approach, community participants (adolescents, parents, stakeholders) provided possible intervention ideas to address obesity amongst adolescents. The research follows the nine CBPR principles as defined by Israel, Eng, Schulz, and Parker (2005) in their book “Methods in Community-Based Participatory Research for Health”:

1)    Acknowledgement of community

2)    Builds upon strengths within the community

3)    Facilitates collaborative partnerships

4)    Fosters capacity building

5)    Achieves benefits for all partners

6)    Focuses on locally relevant health issues

7)    Systems development

8)    Dissemination of results

9)    Long-term sustainability

Key Point 1: Involving the community in intervention development leads to increased program effectiveness and sustainability since community is heavily invested in the intervention development process. For example, Goh et al. (2009) demonstrate that a CBPR approach leads to the design of a more effective school based intervention that address obesity in adolescents

Key Point 2: CBPR is useful for identifying interventions that are acceptable to community members; “community involvement in intervention development and testing is essential for program effectiveness and sustainability” (Goh et al, 2009).

Key Point 3: Data from focus groups can identify important topics and themes of the community (e.g., Los Angeles Unified School District) and lead to the development of interventions that address the community’s issue (e.g., eating barriers and physical activity barriers). For example, findings from Goh’s research suggest that effective school-based interventions to improve healthy eating should improve both the food and beverage offered in school cafeterias and nutrition labeling.

Key Point 4: Data from CBPR initiatives may provide stronger support for policy change (Goh et al, 2009).

Citation for the comparison paper:

Bidwell, D. (2009). Is community-based participatory research postnormal science? Science, Technology & Human Values 34(6), 741-761.

• Bidwell’s article extends the ideas presented by Goh as he suggests that CBPR  is a response “to the shortcomings of normal science” within the health research community (e.g., low participation and lack of trust of out researchers). Goh states that “prior research (in relation to adolescent obesity) has not elicited a broad range of community views” (Goh et al., 2009). In other words, not many health initiatives, such as obesity prevention interventions, have involved community members to the level that CBPR has done. CBPR allows community members to be directly involved in “doing the science” which will benefit the community’s health (Bidwell, 2009).

By: Ali Al-Rajhi

I have been doing some research into what the important questions researchers must ask about the issue of childhood obesity  There are a number of public health interventions and GRANTS that focus on nutrition, exercise, and stress coping, however if those were the only issues to address, then why are these programs not adopted nationally and locally?

In research design, the question asked and theory/model implemented will guide the research. So it is important to ask the right kinds of questions from the very beginning. I believe that there needs to be an understanding of how parents influence their child’s dietary behaviors if we are to begin asking the right questions.

I want to raise some important questions that have been on my mind recently:

1) What about the possible benefits of being obese? As wild as it may sound, there are published papers that show obese individuals have stronger bones because one way to build strong bones is to participate in weight-bearing exercise…and what better weight then lugging your own body around. However, this does not mean that it is okay to be obese. There are obvious cardiovascular risks that both parent and child must understand.

2) What are natural and inexpensive ways to reduce the chance of becoming obese that even children can understand and apply? I happened to stumble upon THIS ARTICLE that address this question and it involves WATER!

3) Are there approaches to incorporate inexpensive technologies already used by children (e.g., the internet and game counsels) when developing obesity interventions? Well, researchers at the University of South Carolina are using “wireless body networks and interactive multimedia to promote physical activity in children.” Check out the article HERE.

No matter what the issues are, the questions asked are pivotal for proper research design; asking the right questions can distinguish good research from GREAT research.

Today I sat in on a nutrition lecture given by Dr. Karla Shelnutt at the University of Florida and the topic related to oral health and nutrition. It was interesting to realize that there are certain foods that are highly cariogenic – foods containing fermentable carbs that are metabolized by bacteria to cause tooth demineralization. In other words, foods that may lead to “tooth caries” or tooth decay. Also, it’s not just the “amount consumed” of these cariogenic foods that can lead to tooth caries, but a combination of the types of carbs (e.g., sucrose, high fructose corn syrup, lactose, dextrose, etc) they contain as well as the frequency that one consumes these foods. For example, dried fruits (which are sticky and can adhere to your tooth), candies, cake, chips, and sodas are highly cariogenic.

All you coffee drinkers out there, if you sip your coffee slowly then you are setting up an ideal acidic environment for bacteria to colonize and affect your oral health. Now, I don’t recommend slamming down your coffee in 3 minutes, but just be aware. Although, it is better to consume your coffee in a short amount of time.

There are non-cariogenic foods (a.k.a. cariostatic foods) that when consumed are not a threat to your teeth. These include cheeses, nuts, and xylitol (a sugar found in chewing gum). Xylitol is interesting in that it interrupts bacteria from causing harm to your teeth…however it’s most effective if the gum is not a mixture.

Lastly, a study conducted in Sweden from 1945-1953 known as the “Vipeholm Study” has shown that if you consume a sugary drink (highly cariogenic) between meals versus during a meal, your risk of developing tooth caries increases. So drink that fruit juice during your steak dinner and have water between meals.

And it goes with out saying that if you follow proper dental hygiene (brush/floss after meals), the fluoride can help to prevent tooth decay.

- Ali Al-Rajhi