Carroll Jennifer E, Emond Jennifer A, Griffin Linda L, Bertone-Johnson Elizabeth R, VanKim Nicole A, Sturgeon Susan R
Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, School of Public Health & Health Sciences, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst, Massachusetts.
Department of Biomedical Data Sciences, Geisel School of Medicine, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire.
AJPM Focus. 2024 Feb 11;3(3):100205. doi: 10.1016/j.focus.2024.100205. eCollection 2024 Jun.
Exposure to food marketing increases the risk of poor diet. Children's perception and interpretation of food marketing across digital media platforms is understudied. Children aged 9-11 years are uniquely susceptible to food marketing because children may watch content alone, and it is unclear whether embedded ads are decipherable by children (e.g., social media influencers) and if children are receptive to advertisements.
The authors collected data from 21 child-parent dyads in 2022 to fill this gap. Children were interviewed about their food marketing exposure and media use and were asked to share their perspectives on food advertisements. Parents completed a survey for household digital devices, demographics, and perception of their child's food advertising knowledge.
This study found that all children generally recognized direct food advertisements, could describe them with varying levels of confidence, and shared examples. Despite self-identifying ads and understanding the intent of advertising, many children are still receptive to advertisements on the basis of engaging content (e.g., liking the ads as entertainment, watching ads even when given the chance to skip the ad) and the food items marketed (e.g., liking the taste of foods).
These findings suggest that knowledge of advertisement exposure and intent of advertising are not sufficient to reduce receptiveness of unhealthy food ad exposure. Additional research on the potential impacts of embedded ads, such as through social media influencers, is needed to understand children's interaction with the current digital media landscape.
接触食品营销会增加不良饮食的风险。儿童对数字媒体平台上食品营销的认知和解读尚未得到充分研究。9至11岁的儿童特别容易受到食品营销的影响，因为他们可能独自观看内容，而且尚不清楚嵌入式广告（如社交媒体有影响力的人所做的广告）儿童是否能够理解，以及儿童是否容易接受此类广告。
作者在2022年从21对儿童-家长二元组收集数据以填补这一空白。研究人员就儿童接触食品营销和使用媒体的情况对他们进行了访谈，并要求他们分享对食品广告的看法。家长们完成了一项关于家庭数字设备、人口统计信息以及对孩子食品广告知识认知的调查。
本研究发现，所有儿童一般都能识别直接的食品广告，能够以不同程度的自信描述这些广告，并分享实例。尽管能自行识别广告并理解广告意图，但许多儿童仍然会基于引人入胜的内容（例如，将广告视为一种娱乐而喜欢，即使有机会跳过广告也会观看）以及所推销的食品（例如，喜欢食品的味道）而容易接受广告。
这些研究结果表明，了解广告接触情况和广告意图不足以降低儿童对不健康食品广告接触的易感性。需要对嵌入式广告的潜在影响进行更多研究，例如通过社交媒体有影响力的人所做的广告，以了解儿童与当前数字媒体环境的互动情况。
