Due to necessary scheduled maintenance, the JMIR Publications website will be unavailable from Wednesday, July 01, 2020 at 8:00 PM to 10:00 PM EST. We apologize in advance for any inconvenience this may cause you.
Who will be affected?
Readers: No access to all 28 journals. We recommend accessing our articles via PubMed Central
Authors: No access to the submission form or your user account.
Reviewers: No access to your user account. Please download manuscripts you are reviewing for offline reading before Wednesday, July 01, 2020 at 7:00 PM.
Editors: No access to your user account to assign reviewers or make decisions.
Copyeditors: No access to user account. Please download manuscripts you are copyediting before Wednesday, July 01, 2020 at 7:00 PM.
Television Feeds Unhealthy Food Advertising To Children In Asia: Evidence From Nine Countries Using A Harmonized Approach
Tilakavati Karupaiah;
Shah Md Mahfuzur Rahman;
Juan Zhang;
Naveen Kumar;
Batjargal Jamiyan;
Raj Kumar Pokharel;
Elaine Quintana Borazon;
Tharanga Thoradeniya;
Nguyen Thi Thi Tho;
Sally Mackay;
Bridget Kelly;
Boyd Swinburn;
Karuthan Chinna;
Enkhmyagmar Dashzeveg;
Gild Rick Ong;
Sreelakshmi Sankara Narayanan;
Mohd Jamil Sameeha;
Mohammad Ahsan Uddin;
Yuxiang Tang;
Naresh Kumar Sharma;
Rishav Pokharel;
Anna Christine Rome;
Pujitha Wickremasinghe;
Phan Thanh Huy
ABSTRACT
Background:
Prevailing childhood obesity in Asia adds risk for future adult burden of obesity and non-communicable diseases. Weak policies across most Asian countries enables unrestricted marketing of obesogenic foods and beverages directly to children. Television is the common medium for food marketing to reach this audience.
Objective:
This study aimed to assess the extent and nature of television food and non-alcoholic beverage marketing in nine Asian countries (Bangladesh, China, India, Malaysia, Mongolia, Nepal, Philippines, Sri Lanka and Vietnam) with capacity building from the International Network for Food and Obesity/NCD Research, Monitoring and Action Support who enabled harmonization of data collection method and content analyses.
Methods:
Advertised foods were categorized as permitted (P) or not permitted (NP) based on the nutrient profile models (NPM) established by the WHO regional offices for South-East Asia (SEARO) and the Western Pacific (WPRO). Data were reported as rate of food advertisements (ads/h/channel) overall and persuasive strategy usage during children’s peak (PVT) and non-peak (non-PVT) viewing times.
Results:
Cross-country comparisons, irrespective of country income level, indicated NP food advertising dominated children’s popular television channels especially during PVT with rates as per WPRO/ SEARO criteria ranging from 2.40/ 2.29 ads/h/channel (Malaysia) to 9.70/ 9.41 ads/h/channel (Philippines). Persuasive strategy rates were also higher during PVT compared to non-PVT. Sugar-sweetened beverages, sugar-containing solid foods, and high salt and fat-containing snacks and fast foods were frequently advertised. Evaluation of the application of WPRO and SEARO NPMs identified inconsistencies due to regional taste and cuisine variations across Asia.
Conclusions:
Our study clearly showed unhealthy food marketing through popular children’s television channels is widely occurring in Asia and is a clear breach of child rights. Evidence outcomes will be used to advocate for stronger policy regulations to control unhealthy food marketing and strengthen strategies to promote a healthier food environment for the Asian people. Clinical Trial: Not relevant to this study as this is not a clinical trial.
Citation
Please cite as:
Karupaiah T, Rahman SMM, Zhang J, Kumar N, Jamiyan B, Pokharel RK, Borazon EQ, Thoradeniya T, Tho NTT, Mackay S, Kelly B, Swinburn B, Chinna K, Dashzeveg E, Ong GR, Narayanan SS, Sameeha MJ, Uddin MA, Tang Y, Sharma NK, Pokharel R, Rome AC, Wickremasinghe P, Huy PT
Extent and Nature of Television Food and Nonalcoholic Beverage Marketing in 9 Asian Countries: Cross-Sectional Study Using a Harmonized Approach