Fast-Food Consumption and the Ban on Advertising Targeting Children: The Quebec Experience

TLDR

Amid growing concerns about childhood obesity and its health risks, several countries are considering banning fast‑food advertising targeting children. In this article, the authors study the effect of such a ban in the Canadian province of Quebec. Using household expenditure survey data from 1984 to 1992, the authors applied a triple‑difference–difference‑in‑differences approach to compare fast‑food spending and purchase propensity between ban‑affected and unaffected groups, finding that the ban reduced weekly purchase propensity by 13% rather than spending per se. The ban cut annual fast‑food consumption by US$88 million and is effective only when media markets do not overlap.

Abstract

Amid growing concerns about childhood obesity and the associated health risks, several countries are considering banning fast-food advertising targeting children. In this article, the authors study the effect of such a ban in the Canadian province of Quebec. Using household expenditure survey data from 1984 to 1992, authors examine whether expenditure on fast food is lower in those groups affected by the ban than in those that are not. The authors use a triple difference-indifference methodology by appropriately defining treatment and control groups and find that the ban's effectiveness is not a result of the decrease in fast food expenditures per week but rather of the decrease in purchase propensity by 13% per week. Overall, the authors estimate that the ban reduced fast-food consumption by Us$88 million per year. The study suggests that advertising bans can be effective provided media markets do not overlap.