The Impact of Country and Exposure to Sugary Drink Marketing on Youth Brand Recall and Preferences

Abstract

Background: Consumption of sugary drinks (SD) among children is a prevalent public health issue that is exacerbated by the powerful marketing of such beverages to youth. Methods: A secondary analysis of the International Food Policy Survey Youth Wave 2019 was conducted to assess the impact of self-reported exposure to SD marketing within the past 30 days or SD brand advertisements on youth brand preference and brand recall overall, by country, and by age group. Ordinal, multinomial, and binary logistic regression were used to examine these associations. Results: Youth brand preference and recall were positively associated with self-reported exposure to general and brand-specific SD marketing within and across all countries. Both children and adolescents were similarly impacted by SD marketing. Soft drinks, sports drinks, and fruit juice brands were most commonly recalled by youth. Conclusion: Global marketing policies should consider older children and adolescents to adequately protect and support child health.