JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Exposure to unhealthy food and beverage marketing is a major contributor to excessive weight gain in young people and may disproportionately affect Black and Latinx communities. Appropriate and comprehensive regulations on food and beverage companies is essential, particularly as companies expand their reach and leverage the latest technologies to marketing experiences using virtual reality (VR). Although VR technology is in its infancy, the potential effects of immersive food and beverage marketing on consumption, food and beverage corporations’ history of racially-targeted marketing to Black and Latinx communities, and heightened burden of diet-related illnesses in Black/Latinx communities underscores a critical need to investigate immersive marketing to young people and young people of color. This viewpoint will provide a brief description of VR food and beverage marketing as the newest food and beverage marketing frontier, highlight key concerns and knowledge gaps, and underscore future directions in research.