Study: Fast-food Promotions on TV Unfairly Target Children by Emphasizing Toys and Incentives Over Food

A study of TV advertising for children’s fast-food meals found that most placed a disproportionate emphasis on premiums such as toy giveaways in relation to the food, violating the industry’s own guidelines regarding deception. The study, “Promotion of Meal Premiums in Child-Directed TV Advertising for Children’s Fast-Food Meals,” published in the July 2021 Pediatrics (published online May 10), analyzed content of all child-directed fast-food advertisements on four U.S. TV networks from Feb. 1, 2019 through Jan. 31, 2020. The authors quantified the percent of the audio transcript (word count) and visual airtime (seconds) of premiums relative to food, as well as the on-screen size of the toys or giveaways. More than 20,000 advertisements from 11 fast-food restaurants were aired on the four children’s TV networks, amounting to 142 hours of total airtime. Advertisements for one fast food restaurant accounted for 99.8% of the airtime for children’s fast-food meals specifically. On average, premiums (vs. food) accounted for 53.0% (vs. 16.0%) of words in the audio transcript and 59.2% (vs 54.3%) of the visual airtime per advertisement, countering the Industry pledge that premiums must be secondary to the advertised product (i.e., the fast food meal). Industry guidelines are managed through the Children’s Advertising Review Unit, administered by the BBB National Programs (formerly the Better Business Bureau). The authors conclude the advertisements emphasize premiums over food in violation of self-regulatory guidelines, counter to childhood obesity prevention efforts. They suggest that the U.S. strengthen oversight of child-directed marketing by an independent review body or regulatory agency.

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The American Academy of Pediatrics is an organization of 67,000 primary care pediatricians, pediatric medical subspecialists and pediatric surgical specialists dedicated to the health, safety and well-being of infants, children, adolescents and young adults.