The Food Marketing Defense Model: Integrating Psychological Research to Protect Youth and Inform Public Policy

TLDR

Marketing of calorie‑dense, nutrient‑poor foods directly to children and adolescents poses a significant public health risk, and while current proposals focus on restricting TV ads to under‑12s, psychological models indicate that all forms of marketing, including those targeting adolescents, require broader protection. The study proposes a food marketing defense model with four conditions—awareness, understanding, ability, and motivation—to counter harmful marketing, and calls for new psychological research to examine these processes and inform protective policy. The authors propose a food marketing defense model that posits four necessary conditions—awareness, understanding, ability, and motivation—to effectively counter harmful food marketing practices.

Abstract

Marketing practices that promote calorie‐dense, nutrient‐poor foods directly to children and adolescents present significant public health risk. Worldwide, calls for government action and industry change to protect young people from the negative effects of food marketing have increased. Current proposals focus on restricting television advertising to children under 12 years old, but current psychological models suggest that much more is required. All forms of marketing pose considerable risk; adolescents are also highly vulnerable; and food marketing may produce far‐reaching negative health outcomes. We propose a food marketing defense model that posits four necessary conditions to effectively counter harmful food marketing practices: awareness, understanding, ability, and motivation to resist. A new generation of psychological research is needed to examine each of these processes, including the psychological mechanisms through which food marketing affects young people, to identify public policy that will effectively protect them from harmful influence.