Food marketing policies to reduce childhood obesity

Abstract Issue/problem While overweight and obesity were once attributed solely to individual factors, emerging evidence highlights the role of the obesogenic environment from childhood, with food advertisements as a key contributor. Exposure to food advertisements can lead to increased intake of unhealthy foods, contributing to weight gain and obesity. Therefore, regulating food marketing to children may be effective in reducing overweight and obesity. Description of the problem A global policy review was conducted to examine existing laws and policies related to food marketing to children. The review also evaluated the differences between statutory laws and self-regulation in high-income countries. NOURISHING policy database, Global Database on the Implementation of Nutrition Action, and government websites were systematically searched for mandatory and voluntary regulations between 2000-2022. Results Out of the 82 high-income countries, 16 have statutory laws, while seven also follow self-regulation at various stages, and in five countries and food advertising is entirely self-regulated. These legislations and self-regulations differ in their target audience, food classification criteria, and the media and marketing techniques they cover. Only eight of 16 countries with statutory laws and six out of 12 countries with self-regulations follow a nutrition criterion. Most statutory laws primarily cover broadcast media, while self-regulation applies to all media. Only three countries cover all commercial communications media. (Country names and policy details will be shared at the conference) Lessons Self-regulations are more lenient than statutory laws regarding the definition of child-directed marketing, audience threshold, nutrition criteria, and marketing techniques covered. Comprehensive statutory regulations are essential to minimize children's exposure to unhealthy food promotions and ultimately improve public health outcomes. Key messages • Voluntary policies for food marketing to children facilitate more exposure to unhealthy food marketing and discussions need to take place regarding the potential of imposing more mandatory policies. • No country has comprehensive statutory laws that prohibit all forms of unhealthy food marketing to children.