A Crisis in the Marketplace: How Food Marketing Contributes to Childhood Obesity and What Can Be Done

TLDR

Food marketing to children is massive, expanding across many venues, predominantly promotes nutrient‑poor, calorie‑dense foods, has harmful effects, and is increasingly global, making regulation difficult amid social, legal, financial, and public perception barriers. The article reviews the impact of food marketing on childhood obesity and evaluates the effectiveness of legal, legislative, regulatory, and industry‑based strategies to reduce it. The authors conduct a literature review of marketing effects and assess the potential of various policy and industry interventions. PDF amended Aug.

Abstract

Reducing food marketing to children has been proposed as one means for addressing the global crisis of childhood obesity, but significant social, legal, financial, and public perception barriers stand in the way. The scientific literature documents that food marketing to children is (a) massive; (b) expanding in number of venues (product placements, video games, the Internet, cell phones, etc.); (c) composed almost entirely of messages for nutrient-poor, calorie-dense foods; (d) having harmful effects; and (e) increasingly global and hence difficult to regulate by individual countries. The food industry, governmental bodies, and advocacy groups have proposed a variety of plans for altering the marketing landscape. This article reviews existing knowledge of the impact of marketing and addresses the value of various legal, legislative, regulatory, and industry-based approaches to change. *This PDF was amended on Aug. 5, 2009: See explanation at http://arjournals.annualreviews.org/doi/abs/10.1146/annurev.pu.30.090805.200009