The Frequency and Healthfulness of Food and Beverages Advertised on Adolescents' Preferred Web Sites in Canada

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to document the frequency and healthfulness of pop-up and banner food advertisements displayed on third-party Web sites preferred by adolescents in Canada.

Methods: Syndicated Internet advertising exposure data licensed from comScore was used to identify adolescents' (ages 12–17) 10 most popular Web sites and determine the frequency of food and beverage display advertisements on these Web sites from June 2015 to May 2016. The nutrition information for all advertised products was collected, and the healthfulness of all food and beverage ads was assessed using the Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO) and the U.K. Nutrient Profile Models (NPM).

Results: In total, there were 14.4 million food advertisements on all 10 Web sites from June 2015 to May 2016. The most frequently advertised food categories were cakes, cookies, and ice cream (32.5%); cold cereal (20.5%); restaurants (18.0%); and sugar-sweetened beverages (12.0%). Most advertised products (93.3%) were categorized as excessive in either fat, sodium, or free sugars according to the PAHO NPM, and 83.5% of ads were categorized as “less healthy” according to the U.K. NPM. Specifically, 81.3% of ads were excessive in free sugars, 22.1% were excessive in sodium, 14.1% were excessive in saturated fat, and 11.8% were excessive in total fat according to the PAHO NPM.

Conclusions: Canadian adolescents are potentially exposed to a high frequency of unhealthy food and beverage display advertisements on their preferred Web sites. Regulations restricting food and beverage marketing to children need to include digital media and should consider protecting adolescents up to the age of 17.