Persuasive food marketing to children: use of cartoons and competitions in Australian commercial television advertisements

SUMMARY

While there is a recognized link between high levels of exposure to advertising of unhealthy foods and overweight and obesity among children, there is little research on the extent to which these exposures include persuasive marketing techniques. This study aimed to measure children’s exposure to the use of persuasive marketing within television food advertisements.

Advertisements broadcast on all three commercial Australian television channels were recorded for an equivalent 1 week period in May 2006 and 2007 (714 h). Food advertisements were analysed for their use of persuasive marketing, including premium offers, such as competitions, and the use of promotional characters, including celebrities and cartoon characters. Advertised foods were categorized as core, non-core or miscellaneous foods. Commercial data were purchased to determine children’s peak viewing times and popular programs.

A total of 20 201 advertisements were recorded, 25.5% of which were for food. Significantly more food advertisements broadcast during children’s peak viewing times, compared to non-peak times, contained promotional characters (P < 0.05) and premium offers (P < 0.001). During programs most popular with children, there were 3.3 non-core food advertisements per hour containing premium offers, compared to 0.2 per hour during programs most popular with adults. The majority of advertisements containing persuasive marketing during all viewing periods were for non-core foods.

Persuasive marketing techniques are frequently used to advertise non-core foods to children, to promote children’s brand recognition and preference for advertised products. Future debate relating to television advertising regulations must consider the need to restrict the use of persuasive marketing techniques to children.

children, television, food advertising

INTRODUCTION

Childhood obesity rates in Australia are among the highest in the world, with the most recent population data showing an estimated 25% of school-aged children are now overweight or obese (Booth et al., 2006). Overweight and obesity in childhood have been shown to be strong predictors of obesity in adulthood (Venn et al., 2007), and overweight is now a leading cause of premature morbidity and mortality in Australia (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2006).

Television food advertising is currently under scrutiny in Australia and internationally for its role in influencing children’s diets and weight. Evidence indicates that there is an association between television food advertising and children’s food-related behaviours, including their food preferences and food purchase requests (Hastings et al., 2003; Escelante de Cruz, 2004; Institute of Medicine of the National Academies, 2006). As such, the World Health Organization has concluded that there is a probable causal link between persistent unhealthy food and beverage marketing and weight gain and obesity (WHO, 2003). Because large numbers of children are exposed to unhealthy food marketing, it makes a significant overall contribution to increasing the risk of obesity at a population level.

Australian research has shown that a high proportion of all television food advertising is for non-core foods (high in fat, salt and/or sugar) (Neville et al., 2005; Chapman et al., 2006; Kelly et al., 2007). The Australian Guide to Healthy Eating, a nationally recognized food guide for Australia, recommends that not more than two serves of non-core foods should be consumed by children each day; equivalent to approximately 14% of daily energy intake for children aged 5–12 years (Australian Department of Health and Aging, 2001). In reality, 41% of Australian children’s daily energy intake comes from non-core foods (Bell et al., 2005). There is a discrepancy between the recommended dietary guidelines and the ‘broadcast diet’ that is advertised to children on television. Currently, children’s diets more closely reflect this ‘broadcast diet’ than that promoted in dietary guidelines (Kelly et al., 2007).

The use of persuasive marketing techniques, including premium offers, such as competitions and giveaways, and promotional characters, such as celebrities and cartoons, in food advertising, is an under-researched area. However, one previous Australian study which assessed the extent of premium offers during 63 h of television, found that the use of this persuasive marketing technique was significantly higher during children’s programs compared with other viewing times (Morton et al., 2005).

There is a small body of evidence that suggests younger children lack the cognitive development to discriminate between a premium offer and an advertised product (Carruth et al., 2000). It has also been suggested that behavioural outcomes, such as purchasing requests, are modified by premium offers (Hastings et al., 2003), and that promotional characters are positively associated with children’s product recall and attitudes towards advertised products (Neeley and Schumann, 2004).

In Australia, statutory regulation of television advertising to children, overseen by the Australian Communications and Media Authority through the Children’s Television Standards (CTS), stipulates that advertisements involving a premium offer or competition should accurately portray the conditions of the offer and not stimulate any unreasonable expectations, and that any reference to the offer should be incidental to the main product or service advertised. While the CTS do include provisions relating to product promotion and endorsement by children’s program personalities and characters, there is no restriction on the use of celebrities and sports persons to promote products.

Public support for stronger regulation of television food advertising is widespread. In 2007, an Australia-wide survey was conducted on a random, nationwide sample of 400 parents with children aged 0–13 years (Morley, 2007). Sixty-eight percent of parents surveyed reported that they were concerned about the use of popular personalities and/or characters to promote unhealthy foods to children, and over three quarters (76%) were concerned about food advertising that promotes free toys or gifts with products.

The aim of this study was to investigate the extent of children’s exposure to two forms of persuasive food marketing techniques, specifically premium offers and the use of promotional characters, and the types of food products that these advertising techniques are associated with, on Australian commercial television.

METHODS

Sampling

Data were recorded using an established television monitoring infrastructure system at the University of Sydney. Programs and advertisements broadcast on all three Sydney commercial television stations (Channels 7, 9 and 10) were recorded over a 7 day period in two consecutive years, from Sunday 14th May 2006 to Saturday 20th May 2006, and from Sunday May 13th to Saturday May 19th 2007. Television data were recorded between 06:00 and 23:00 each day, for a total time of 238 hours per station and 714 h overall.

Television viewing periods

Broadcast periods were defined according to television audience data, purchased from OzTAM (Australian Television Audience Measurement) (available at http://www.oztam.com.au). Data on the viewing patterns of children aged 5–12 years, adolescents aged 13–17 years and adults aged 18 years and over were purchased for the 12-month period May 2006–April 2007 and for the 20 programs most popular with each age group during the two recording periods.

Peak viewing periods for children and adolescents were determined using yearly television audience data, and defined as times where the audience for the combined age group 5–17 years exceeded 25% of the maximum viewing audience for this age group. This definition of ‘peak’ means that over 40 000 children across Sydney were viewing television at this time.

The overall peak viewing periods were defined as: The 20 most popular programs for both children and adolescents accounted for 54.5 hours and fell within these peak viewing periods.

• Monday–Friday 7:00–9:00, 15:30–23:00, and

• Saturday–Sunday 7:30–10:30, 15:30–23:00.

This study analysed the use of persuasive marketing techniques in both peak viewing periods and during children’s popular programs. Note that the children’s viewing band, as defined in current regulations, was not used for reporting children’s exposure to food advertising in this study, as television audience data indicate that large numbers of children are not watching during these designated times.

Coding

For each year of data collection, all advertisements were screened and coded by three research assistants into Microsoft Office Excel (2003), according to the time period during which the advertisement was broadcast and whether the advertisement was for a food or non-food product. All food advertisements were screened and coded for the use of two persuasive marketing techniques: premium offers (including competitions, giveaways, rebates and vouchers) and promotional characters (including celebrities, sports persons, cartoon characters and spokes/branded characters, for example Ronald McDonald).

Food advertisements were further classified according to food categories, which were based on the Australian Guide to Healthy Eating (Australian Department of Health and Aging, 2001). Using these criteria, foods were classified as either core, those that are recommended to be consumed daily to meet nutrient requirements; and non-core, foods that are relatively high in undesirable nutrients. Advertisements for miscellaneous foods and food-related items were coded as either supplements, lozenges and yeast extract; tea and coffee; or local restaurants and supermarkets. These major food categories were disaggregated into 27 smaller food groups (Table 1). All food advertisement coding was conducted by a dietician and checked for validity by another dietitian in the study team.

Table 1:

The proportion of food advertisements containing promotional characters and premium offers, by children’s peak viewing times

Food groups	% ads with promotional characters		% ads with premium offers
	Peaka	Non-peak	Peaka	Non-peak
Core foods	29.0	29.5	5.3	10.1
Low sugar/high fibre breakfast cereals (<20 g/100 g sugar and >5 g/100 g dietary fibre), breads, rice, pasta and noodles	8.2	7.7	0.0	0.0
Fruits and fruit products, and vegetables and vegetable products without added sugar	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
Reduced fat dairy (includes cheese <15 g/100 g fat; 50% reduced fat cheddar, ricotta and cottage) and alternatives (includes probiotic drinks)	7.6	2.0	4.9	6.4
Meat and meat alternatives (not crumbed or battered) (includes fish, legumes, eggs, nuts and nut products, including peanut butter, excluding sugar coated or salted nuts)	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
Sandwiches, salads soups and sauces; includes sandwiches, mixed salads, frozen meals (<10 g/serve fat), soups (<2 g/100 g fat, excludes dehydrated) and low fat savoury sauces (<5 g/100 g fat)	13.3	19.8	0.4	3.7
Baby foods (excluding milk formulae)	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
Bottled water	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
Non-core foods	57.4	49.9	85.7†	81.7†
High sugar/low fibre breakfast cereals (>20 g/100 g or <5 g/100 g dietary fibre)	12.0	6.6	18.1	14.7
Crumbed or battered meat and meat alternatives and high fat frozen meals (>10 g/serve fat)	0.3	0.4	0.0	0.0
Cakes, muffins, sweet biscuits, muesli bars, snack bars, high fat savoury biscuits, pies and pastries	2.3	1.8	0.0	0.0
Snack foods, including chips, savoury crisps, extruded snacks, popcorn, sugar sweetened fruit and vegetable products, and sugar coated and salted nuts	3.7	2.4	3.0	1.8
Fruit juice and fruit drinks	0.0	3.7	0.0	0.0
Frozen/fried potato products (excluding packet crisps)	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
Full cream dairy and alternatives (includes dairy desserts)	6.0	3.7	0.8	0.0
Ice cream and iced confection	1.7	0.4	6.8	0.9
Chocolate and confectionery (including chewing gum)	11.7	16.3	30.9	36.7
Fast food restaurants/meals (including general pizza, burgers, salads from fast food restaurants, Subway)	4.6	0.7	21.5	26.6
High fat/sugar/salt spread spreads (excluding peanut butter), oils, high fat savoury sauces (>5 g/100 fat), meal helpers (including stocks, tomato paste) and soups (>2 g/100 g fat tinned and all dehydrated)	4.6	3.7	0.0	0.0
Sugar sweetened drinks including soft drinks, cordials, electrolyte drinks and flavour additions	7.7	2.6	4.5	0.9
Alcohol	1.2	0.7	0.0	0.0
Baby and toddler milk formulae	1.4	6.8	0.0	0.0
Local restaurants, cafes, supermarkets	0.9	0.2	9.1	7.3
Supermarkets: non-specified product promoted	0.3	0.2	7.2	6.4
Supermarkets: core foods promoted	0.3	0.0	0.0	0.0
Supermarket: non-core foods promoted	0.0	0.0	1.9	0.9
Local cafes and restaurants	0.3	0.0	0.0	0.0
Miscellaneous beverages: tea/coffee	1.7	0.7	0.0	0.0
Supplements, lozenges and yeast extracts	11.0	19.8	0.0	0.9
Supplements	11.0	19.8	0.0	0.9
Total	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0

^aMonday–Friday 7:00–9:00, 15:30–23:00, Saturday–Sunday 7:30–10:30, 15:30–23:00.

^†P < 0.0001.

The procedure for any food coding ambiguities, or when multiple products were shown in an advertisement (for example in advertisements for supermarkets), was to code as the first product shown, the most dominant product, or after considering the majority of the products promoted by the advertised company, if the advertisement was for a brand name only.

Inter-coder reliability of the research assistants was assessed using a 30 min ‘test’ time of television recording. Analysis showed a high correlation between the three coders for each year period (<1% difference in use of persuasive marketing techniques).

Statistical analyses

Data were transferred from the Microsoft Excel 2003 database to SPSS version 14 for Windows (Chicago, USA, 2007). Advertisements were analysed according to two main viewing periods: peak children’s viewing periods and popular programs. Pearson chi-square was used to compare the proportion of food advertisements containing persuasive marketing during peak and non-peak viewing periods. Poisson regression, using a generalized linear model, was used to compare the rates of advertisements for core and non-core foods that used persuasive marketing techniques during programs popular with children and adults, with α < 0.05 considered statistically significant.

RESULTS

Overall persuasive marketing

During the two recording periods, there were a total of 20 201 advertisements, of which 25.5% were for food. The most frequently advertised food category was non-core foods, comprising 56.4% of all food advertisements (Figure 1). Findings from analyses of the 2006 and 2007 television advertising data to determine children’s exposure to high fat/high sugar food advertisements have been reported elsewhere (Kelly et al., 2007; NSW Centre for Overweight and Obesity, 2007). The proportion of all advertisements that were for food (26.3% in 2006; 24.8% in 2007), and the proportion of food advertisements that contained promotional characters (21.9%; 20.9%) and premium offers (5.9%; 8.7%) were similar between data collection years.

Fig. 1:

The proportion of food advertisements for different food groups.

Overall, 21.4% of food advertisements contained promotional characters and 7.3% used premiums offers. Of those advertisements using promotional characters, non-core foods contributed the highest proportion, at 54.3%. Similarly, the majority of advertisements using premium offers were for non-core foods (84.5%).

Persuasive marketing during children’s peak viewing periods

During children’s peak viewing periods, the proportion of all food advertisements for non-core food products increased to 61.3% (from 56.4% overall). The most frequently advertised food sub-groups during this time period were fast food restaurants (17.9% of all food advertisements) and chocolate and confectionery (10.9%).

The proportion of all food advertisements containing persuasive marketing was significantly higher during children’s peak viewing times. During this time, 22.5% (648) of all food advertisements contained promotional characters, compared to 20.1% (456) during non-peak viewing times (χ²₁ = 4.30, P < 0.05) (Table 1). Similarly, 9.2% (265) of food advertisements contained premium offers during peak viewing times, compared to 4.8% (110) during non-peak periods (χ²₁ = 35.55, P < 0.0001).

Most food advertisements with persuasive marketing techniques were for non-core foods, both during children’s peak and non-peak viewing periods. However, the proportion of overall non-core food advertisements with persuasive marketing was higher during peak times. During children’s peak viewing periods, non-core foods comprised 57.4% of food advertisements with promotional characters, compared to 49.9% during non-peak periods (χ²₁ = 0.44, P > 0.05), and 85.7% of food advertisements with premium offers, compared to 81.7% during non-peak viewing periods (χ²₁ = 17.71, P < 0.0001) (Table 1).

While non-core food advertisements made most use of persuasive marketing techniques, the specific food group that contributed to the highest proportion of advertisements containing promotional characters during children’s peak viewing hours, was sandwiches and salads (13.3%) (a core food group). This was followed by chocolate and confectionery (11.7%). Chocolate and confectionery and fast food restaurant meals contributed the highest proportion of advertisements containing premium offers (30.9 and 21.5%, respectively). For some individual food groups, including chocolate and confectionery, and sandwiches and salads, the use of persuasive marketing techniques was consistently higher during non-peak viewing times (Table 1).

Rates of persuasive marketing during children’s popular programs

Food advertisements (for all food and non-core foods) using promotional characters were twice as frequent during the programs most popular with 5–12 years old compared to programs most popular with adults (Table 2).

Table 2:

The rate of persuasive marketing in food advertisements, during popular programs

	High rating programs (5–12 years)		High rating programs (13–17 years)		High rating programs (18+ years)
	All food	Non-core food	All food	Non-core food	All food	Non-core food
Rate of advertisements with promotional characters (ads/hour)	3.1	1.8	1.5	1.0	1.2	0.8
Rate of advertisements with premium offers (ads/hour)	3.3	3.3†	1.9	1.8	0.2	0.2†

^†P < 0.0001; significant difference in the rate of non-core food advertisements containing premium offers between popular programs for 5–12 years old and adults.

The rate of food advertisements (for all food and non-core foods) with premium offers was substantially higher during younger children’s popular programs. The rate of non-core food advertisements containing premium offers was more than 18 times higher during children’s popular programs, compared to adults’ popular programs (χ²₁ = 19.76, P < 0.0001).

DISCUSSION

The placement of food advertisements that use persuasive marketing techniques, including promotional characters and premium offers, is targeted during broadcast periods when large numbers of children are watching television. In this study, the proportion of food advertisements that used both promotional characters and premium offers was significantly higher during children’s peak viewing times, as defined by audience viewing patterns, than compared to non-peak viewing periods (22.5 vs. 20.1%, and 9.2 vs. 4.8%, respectively). Further, the majority of these advertisements containing persuasive marketing techniques during children’s peak viewing times were for non-core food products.

The use of persuasive marketing techniques was distributed over a relatively small range of food groups. During children’s peak viewing times, the majority of food advertisements containing promotional characters were for sandwiches, salads, soups and sauces, high sugar/low fibre breakfast cereals, chocolate and confectionery and supplements. Within advertisements for the sandwiches, salads, soups and sauces food group, promotional characters were exclusively found in advertisements for savoury sauces and tinned soups. The use of premium offers during this broadcast period was concentrated in advertisements for chocolate and confectionery, fast food restaurant meals and high sugar/low fibre breakfast cereals.

Similar results were found for the use of persuasive food marketing during children’s most popular programs. Persuasive marketing was much more frequently used to advertise foods during programs popular with children, compared to during adults’ popular programs. Again non-core foods comprised the majority of food advertisements during this time.

The endorsement of food products by promotional characters and the use of premium offers are used as a means of attracting children’s attention to an advertisement, and persuade children to request or buy an advertised product (Brand, 2007). Promotional characters, in particular cartoons and spokes-characters, have been shown to be associated with children’s recognition of, and positive attitudes towards, food products (Neeley and Schumann, 2004), creating long-term brand recognition and loyalty from an early age. When children have repeated and food-specific exposures to cartoons and spokes characters, such as when they are used for a limited range of products, they are more likely to transfer positive affects associated with the character to the advertised product (Mizerski, 1995). Spokes characters act as visual cues to represent a brand’s attributes (Garretson and Buton, 2005), such as fun and fantasy that are appealing to children. In the same way, celebrities and sports people add credibility to the branded product and attract attention to the advertisement (The Henry J Kaiser Family Foundation, 2007).

Premium offers included with food products encourage children to pester parents to purchase these products. This is particularly the case when premiums are offered as collectibles, such as sets of toys provided with fast food restaurant meals (Roberts, 2005). Previous research from Australia which examined whether premium offers in children’s television programs complied with the CTS (which states that premium offers must be incidental to the main product being advertised), found that premium offers were used more frequently in advertisements during children’s programs, and that more than three quarters of advertisements containing premium offers during children’s programs were in breach of the regulations, in that they were the main focus of the advertisement (Morton et al., 2005).

Similar findings from the USA have been reported, in which 55% of all child-oriented food advertisements were found to incorporate spokes characters (Connor, 2006). Advertisements for fast food restaurant meals were significantly more likely to contain such characters, and less than a quarter of these fast food restaurant advertisements actually displayed the food product. As such, these advertisements were intended to build upon emotional associations with the brand, rather than merely promote the food product (Connor, 2006).

Further, another study from the US (2007) (The Henry J Kaiser Family Foundation, 2007), which assessed the use of premium offers in television advertisements, found that 7% of all food advertisements contained premium offers, the majority of which were for fast food restaurant meals. Advertisements that were specifically targeting children and adolescents were more likely to contain premium offers.

The current study provides the first systematic observation of persuasive television food marketing techniques to children in Australia. The results represent only 2 weeks of television broadcasting; however, as the recording period was selected to avoid special broadcast or holiday periods, and a large sample of advertisements were assessed, this cross-section of advertisements can be extrapolated to represent the nature and extent of persuasive food marketing on Sydney commercial television more generally. Further, results from this study complement previous research from Australia and the USA, which indicates that persuasive marketing is concentrated in advertisements and programs targeting children and that the majority of these advertisements are for unhealthy food products (Morton et al., 2005; Connor, 2006; The Henry J Kaiser Family Foundation, 2007).

The use of promotional characters and premium offers is not restricted to television advertising. In a report prepared by the Centre for Health Initiatives in Australia (2007), researchers identified the use of these persuasive marketing techniques on product packaging, on food product websites and in children’s magazines (Centre for Health Initiatives, 2007).

Persuasive marketing techniques are frequently used in Australian television advertisements to market foods by attracting and engaging children. Evidence indicates that these persuasive marketing techniques are effective in developing children’s brand recognition and can create children’s positive affects towards a brand (Brand, 2007). Our study provides both the evidence that children are exposed to major types of persuasive food marketing techniques on television, and creates impetus for regulatory intervention. The current television advertising regulations that control the use of promotional characters and premium offers are ineffective in preventing these persuasive marketing techniques during broadcast periods when most children are watching. However, changes to these regulations have already proven to be a contested area in Australia (Metherell and Lee, 2007) and are not likely to be reneged without persistent public pressure. Future debate regarding television advertising regulations must specifically consider the need to limit the use of persuasive marketing techniques to children.

FUNDING

We are grateful to NSW Health who provided funding for this research.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Thank you to Kris Rogers for his assistance in statistical analyses, Simon Holding for recording the television data and to Karen Saupin, Erica Hattersley, Laura Williams, Elizabeth Dunford, Bramilla Patkunanathon and Laxmi Iyengar for their work in coding the advertisements.