Department of Management, Universidad Loyola Andalucía, 41704 Seville, Spain.
Department of Management, Universidad Loyola Andalucía, 14004 Cordoba, Spain.
Nutrients. 2023 Oct 26;15(21):4548. doi: 10.3390/nu15214548.
Food advertising, especially on packaging, impacts children's choices. Food companies make different claims on packaging as a marketing techniques to make their products more appealing, enhancing their perceived healthiness, even in unhealthy products. Although the use of some claims is regulated, there are legal loopholes that could confuse young consumers and that concern global authorities. To shed light on the matter, it is necessary to have a comprehensive understanding of the performance of all types of claims made by food companies in food products targeting children. We examined 458 products from Spanish markets in two periods through a cross-sectional content analysis. Our findings reveal that existing policies are working due to the decrease in nutrition claims, but there is a growth in soft claims that are unregulated and potentially confusing and attractive to children. Considering that most of the products analyzed are unhealthy, this emphasizes the importance of implementing stricter regulations to create a healthier and more reliable food environment for children.
食品广告，尤其是包装上的广告，会影响儿童的选择。食品公司在包装上采用不同的说法是一种营销策略，旨在使他们的产品更具吸引力，提高产品的健康感知，即使是在不健康的产品中也是如此。尽管一些说法的使用受到监管，但仍存在法律漏洞，可能会使年轻消费者感到困惑，并引起全球监管机构的关注。为了阐明这一问题，有必要全面了解针对儿童的食品公司在食品产品上所做的各种说法的表现。我们通过横断面内容分析，在两个时期检查了来自西班牙市场的 458 种产品。我们的研究结果表明，由于营养声称的减少，现有的政策正在发挥作用，但软性声称的数量却在增加，这些软性声称不受监管，可能会让儿童感到困惑和有吸引力。考虑到分析的大多数产品都是不健康的，这强调了实施更严格的监管措施的重要性，以创造一个更健康、更可靠的儿童食品环境。
