Developing and testing experimental methods for increasing public support for policies regulating food marketing to children

The Foundation's program, Healthy Eating Research: Building Evidence to Prevent Childhood Obesity, was designed to support investigator-initiated research to identify and assess environmental and policy influences with the greatest potential to improve healthy eating and weight patterns among the nation's children.Through this research project, investigators will develop and test experimental methods for increasing public support for policies regulating food marketing to children. The significance of this project lies in its potential for identifying persuasive appeals (referred to as message frames) to enhance public support for childhood obesity prevention policies. Examples of such message framing have been crucial in changing attitudes in other policy domains and may be important for obesity prevention initiatives. Specifically, this project will consist of a series of small-scale experiments to: (a) identify message frames (i.e., cognitive frames, emotional primes, frame/prime combinations) that significantly increase support for policies regulating food marketing to children; (b) refine and field the most effective message frames combining cognitive and emotional appeals; and (c) assess subgroup differences in these message frames. Experiments will be conducted using samples from a Web-based panel that is representative of the U.S. population, with over-sampling of minority and low-income households at highest risk for obesity.

Grant Details

Amount Awarded $381,888.00

Awarded on: 8/18/2008

Time frame: 9/1/2008 - 6/30/2010

Grant Number: 65055