Social media marketing is leading Australian kids to junk food
Fast-food companies are bombarding Victorian kids with ads for unhealthy junk food and drinks on social media, a new study has found. Here’s how the inundation is taking place.
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Fast-food companies are bombarding children and teens on social media with ads for unhealthy junk food and drinks, a new study has found.
Deakin University’s Global Obesity Centre researchers found none of the 16 most popular social media platforms had comprehensive restrictions on the advertising of junk foods to minors.
This means kids are inundated with posts asking them to enter competitions to win free food and click links to play games such as dating simulators. They are also subjected to product placement and ads in games and videos.
Experts have found such engagement on sites including Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, What’sApp and Facebook makes it more likely children will eat the food promoted.
“Almost nine in 10 Australian teenagers are active on social media, where they’re heavily targeted by junk food companies,” lead researcher Associate Professor Gary Sacks said. “In one recent study, over half of Australian kids active on Facebook had ‘liked’ a fast-food brand.”
He said there was an urgent need to restrict the ads in the same way companies blocked promotion of cosmetic surgery, alcohol, gambling and weight-loss ads.
Prof Sacks said YouTube Kids prohibited junk food marketing on its platform but children could still be exposed through product placement and promotional videos.
“Existing voluntary industry self-regulation has been shown to be ineffective in protecting children from exposure to unhealthy food marketing,” he said.
Social media marketing now makes up 13 per cent of the global advertising spend and 28 per cent of children and teenagers in Australia are overweight or obese.
Francesca, 14, of Surrey Hills, said social media ads for fast food seemed so normal she hardly noticed them.
“I see them but I ignore them, but they must get seen by a lot of customers given that they market to young people directly,” she said.
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