What’s on YouTube? A Case Study on Food and Beverage Advertising in Videos Targeted at Children on Social Media
Open accessAbstract
BACKGROUND: Unhealthy food marketing to children is a key risk factor for childhood obesity. Online video platforms have surpassed television as the primary choice for screen viewing among children but the extent of food marketing through such media is relatively unknown. We aimed to examine food and beverage advertisements (ads) encountered in YouTube videos targeting children in Malaysia. METHODS: The social media analytics site SocialBlade.com was used to identify the most popular YouTube videos (n = 250) targeting children. Ads encountered while viewing these videos were recorded and analyzed for type of product promoted and ad format (video vs. overlay). Food and beverage ads were further coded based on food category and persuasive marketing techniques used. RESULTS: In total 187 ads were encountered in sampled videos. Food and beverage ads were the most common at 38% (n=71), among which 56.3% (n = 40) promoted noncore foods. Ads for noncore foods were more commonly delivered as video rather than overlay ads. Among ads promoting noncore foods, the most commonly employed persuasive marketing techniques found were taste appeal (42.3%), uniqueness/novelty (32.4%), the use of animation (22.5%), fun appeal (22.5%), use of promotional characters (15.5%), price (12.7%), and health and nutrition benefits (8.5%). CONCLUSIONS: Similar to television, unhealthy food ads predominate in content aimed toward children on YouTube. Policies regulating food marketing to children need to be extended to cover online content in line with a rapidly-evolving digital media environment. Service providers of social media can play a part in limiting unhealthy food advertising to children.
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- Authors
- Tan, L., Ng, S. H., Omar, A., & Karupaiah, T.
- Affiliations
- Ministry of Health (MY)
- Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, Australia.
- Taylor's University (MY)
- Corresponding author
- Tan, LeeAnn
- Venue
- Childhood Obesity
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2018-07
- Volume
- 14
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- 280-290
- ISSN
- 2153-2168 (ISSN-L)
- 2153-2176
- OpenAlex
- W2824603618
- Cited by
- 96
- References
- 42
- Citations by year
- 2026: 5 · 2025: 8 · 2024: 10 · 2023: 16 · 2022: 19 · 2021: 17 · 2020: 11 · 2019: 8 · 2018: 1 · 2017: 1
- FWCI
- 8.86
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Childhood Obesity (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Research Online (University of Wollongong) (submittedVersion)
- Figshare (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Kementerian Kesihatan Malaysia
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Obesity, Physical Activity, Diet
- Health Sciences › Nursing › Nutrition and Dietetics › Nutrition, Health and Food Behavior
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management › Global Public Health Policies and Epidemiology
- Keywords
- food marketing to children, beverage advertising, YouTube, online video advertising, social media regulation, Malaysia
- MeSH terms
- Advertising, Beverages, Child, Food, Humans, Persuasive Communication, Television, Food Industry, Social Media, Pediatric Obesity
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