Fleming-Milici Frances, Gershman Haley, Agresta Hanako O, McCann Melissa, Harris Jennifer
Rudd Center for Food Policy and Health, Hartford, Connecticut.
Rudd Center for Food Policy and Health, Hartford, Connecticut.
J Acad Nutr Diet. 2025 Jun 25. doi: 10.1016/j.jand.2025.05.010.
Children's exposure to digital food marketing influences their preferences and consumption of unhealthy products. Young children increasingly spend time viewing YouTube videos on mobile devices, where food brands are promoted in popular children's content. Research is needed to document young children's exposure to branded food messages on YouTube.
To explore and categorize young children's (aged 3 to 8 years) food brand exposure while viewing YouTube videos.
Observational study and content analysis of brand exposures and videos viewed.
PARTICIPANTS/SETTING: Convenience sample of US parent-child dyads participating at home via Zoom, including 101 children (n = 53: 3 to 5 years; n = 48: 6 to 8 years) who regularly watch YouTube videos. Data were collected from June through October 2022.
Percentage of children exposed to food brands during 30 minutes of viewing YouTube videos on their mobile devices and mean number of exposures by type (appearances in videos, in thumbnails, and traditional ads).
Differences by child age and YouTube platform, including percent exposed to food brands (χ tests) and mean number of food brand exposures (t tests).
Most children aged 6 to 8 years (75%) and 36% of children aged 3 to 5 years were exposed to branded food content while watching videos, with significantly higher exposures for slightly older children (mean ± SD = 8.7 ± 8.2 [6 to 8 years] vs 4.1 ± 6.0 [3 to 5 years]) and YouTube vs YouTube Kids viewers (mean ± SD = 7.7 ± 8.2 vs 3.8 ± 3.2). The majority of exposures (61%) were branded foods embedded within videos, followed by thumbnails (23%) and ads (17%). Candy, sugar-sweetened drinks, fast food, and sweet or salty snacks represented 74% of exposures, and lifestyle videos (including influencers) contributed 77% of exposures within videos. No videos embedded with branded foods disclosed food company-sponsored content.
Most young children were exposed to unhealthy food brands while viewing YouTube videos, primarily brand appearances embedded within video content that blurred food promotion with entertainment. Additional policies are needed to protect children from unhealthy food marketing in digital media that they commonly view.
儿童接触数字食品营销会影响他们对不健康产品的偏好和消费。幼儿越来越多地花时间在移动设备上观看YouTube视频，食品品牌在热门儿童内容中得到推广。需要开展研究来记录幼儿在YouTube上接触品牌食品信息的情况。
探讨并分类幼儿（3至8岁）在观看YouTube视频时接触食品品牌的情况。
对品牌曝光和观看的视频进行观察性研究和内容分析。
参与者/环境：通过Zoom在家参与的美国家长-儿童二元组便利样本，包括101名经常观看YouTube视频的儿童（n = 53：3至5岁；n = 48：6至8岁）。数据于2022年6月至10月收集。
儿童在移动设备上观看30分钟YouTube视频期间接触食品品牌的百分比，以及按类型（在视频中出现、在缩略图中出现和传统广告）划分的平均曝光次数。
按儿童年龄和YouTube平台进行差异分析，包括接触食品品牌的百分比（χ检验）和食品品牌曝光的平均次数（t检验）。
大多数6至8岁的儿童（75%）和3至5岁儿童中的36%在观看视频时接触到品牌食品内容，年龄稍大的儿童曝光率显著更高（均值±标准差=8.7±8.2[6至8岁]对4.1±6.0[3至5岁]），YouTube观众比YouTube儿童观众的曝光率更高（均值±标准差=7.7±8.2对3.8±3.2）。大多数曝光（61%）是视频中嵌入的品牌食品，其次是缩略图（23%）和广告（17%）。糖果、含糖饮料、快餐以及甜或咸零食占曝光的74%，生活方式视频（包括有影响力的人）占视频内曝光的77%。没有嵌入品牌食品的视频披露食品公司赞助的内容。
大多数幼儿在观看YouTube视频时接触到不健康食品品牌，主要是视频内容中嵌入的品牌出现，这模糊了食品推广与娱乐的界限。需要更多政策来保护儿童免受他们经常观看的数字媒体中不健康食品营销的影响。
