Marketing to Kids

RWJF Priority: Reduce youths’ exposure to the marketing of unhealthy foods through regulation, policy, and effective industry self-regulation

Unhealthy foods and beverages are heavily marketed to children, and research shows that exposure to food marketing messages increases children’s obesity risk. Food and beverage companies also target African-American and Latino children with more advertising and for products that are less healthy. Some studies suggest that marketing restrictions are among the most powerful and cost-effective interventions available.

The resources below, from RWJF grantees and partners, explore how food and beverage marketing affects children’s food preferences and their risk for obesity.

Childhood Obesity Policy Priorities

Health policy snapshot

What Does Mobile and Digital Marketing Have to do with Childhood Obesity?

Digital technology is transforming how food and beverage companies market their products to young people, particularly African-American and Hispanic youths.

Read the brief

From Healthy Eating Research

Food and Beverage Marketing to Children and Adolescents

This review finds that self-regulation by the food and beverage industry is not likely to reduce marketing of unhealthy foods to children and adolescents significantly.

Read the review

From Bridging the Gap

Child-Directed Marketing Within and Around Fast-Food Restaurants

The fast-food industry spends $660 million a year to market its products to youth and indoor displays for kids’ meals toys are the most prevalent child-directed marketing strategy they use.

Read the brief

From the Yale Rudd Center for Food Policy & Obesity

Cereal FACTS 2012

Cereal companies have improved the nutritional quality of most cereals marketed directly to children, but they have increased advertising to children for many of their least nutritious products.

Read the report

From the Yale Rudd Center for Food Policy & Obesity

Fast Food FACTS

Children as young as age 2 are seeing more fast food ads than ever before, and restaurants rarely offer parents the healthy kids’ meal choices.

Read the report

On The Run: How Families Struggle To Eat Well And Exercise

On the Run: Challenges and Solutions

A poll reveals that many parents face a variety of barriers to helping their children lead healthy lives, especially during the "crunch time" from 3 p.m. to bedtime.

Learn more

More Research and Resources on Marketing to Kids

You are now viewing 1 - 11 of 11 results

Sort results by:

Refine Your Results

By Topic

featured

Health Policy

September 17, 2012 | Feature/Topic

Browse research, insight and analysis on key issues affecting health and health care in the United States.

featured

Childhood Obesity Program Area

RWJF is committed to tackling one of the most urgent threats to the health of our children and families—childhood obesity. Our goal is to reverse the childhood obesity epidemic by 2015.

What Does Mobile and Digital Marketing Have to Do With Childhood Obesity?

June 1, 2012 | Issue Brief

Foods and beverages advertised to young people are often high in calories and low in nutritional value and marketing influences what children consume.

Does Food and Beverage Marketing Influence Children's Food Choices?

July 1, 2011 | Issue Brief

Food and beverage companies market extensively to children, even those as young as 2.

Industry Progress to Market a Healthful Diet to American Children and Adolescents

September 1, 2011 | Journal Article

Five years after an IOM expert committee report on food and beverage marketing, industry stakeholders have not significantly improved their practices to promote a healthful diet to children and adolescents.

Federal Trade Commission Regulation of Food Advertising to Children

April 1, 2010 | Journal Article

Food advertising has an overwhelming influence on children?s food preferences the Institute of Medicine reports that children are unable to discern the persuasive intent of TV advertising. This essay examines the Federal Trade Commission?s authority to aggressively regulate food-marketing practices.

Association Between District and State Policies and U.S. Public Elementary School Competitive Food and Beverage Environments

June 10, 2013 | Journal Article

This study examines the association between district and state policy requirements regarding availability in public elementary schools of competitive food and beverages, including high-fat and high-sugar snacks, drinks, and salty snacks.

School District Wellness Policies

February 28, 2013 | Report

A report from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Bridging the Gap program finds that progress to improve school district wellness policies has stalled.

Child-Directed Marketing Within and Around Fast-Food Restaurants

December 1, 2012 | Issue Brief

The fast-food industry spends $660 million to market its products to children and adolescents each year and spends the most on toys for kids’ meals—$360 million for the cost of toys alone. These efforts help fast-food restaurants sell more than 1.2 ...

Sports Participation in Secondary Schools

October 1, 2012 | Issue Brief

Participating in school sports is an important means to increase physical activity among adolescents. This brief examines participation during the school year by secondary school students in interscholastic sports (played against teams from other sc ...

Zoning for Healthy Food Access Varies by Community Income

April 1, 2012 | Issue Brief

Zoning and land use laws allow or prohibit different types of food outlets, such as supermarkets, farmers’ markets, fast-food restaurants, and convenience stores, in a community. As such, these laws affect people’s access to healthy affordable foods ...