“Marketing through Claims”: A Cross-Sectional Analysis of Child-Targeted Food Packaging Claims within the Spanish Market

Food advertising, especially on packaging, impacts children’s choices. Food companies make different claims on packaging as a marketing techniques to make their products more appealing, enhancing their perceived healthiness, even in unhealthy products. Although the use of some claims is regulated, there are legal loopholes that could confuse young consumers and that concern global authorities. To shed light on the matter, it is necessary to have a comprehensive understanding of the performance of all types of claims made by food companies in food products targeting children. We examined 458 products from Spanish markets in two periods through a cross-sectional content analysis. Our findings reveal that existing policies are working due to the decrease in nutrition claims, but there is a growth in soft claims that are unregulated and potentially confusing and attractive to children. Considering that most of the products analyzed are unhealthy, this emphasizes the importance of implementing stricter regulations to create a healthier and more reliable food environment for children

The Effects of Foods Embedded in Entertainment Media on Children’s Food Choices and Food Intake: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analyses

While watching or playing with media, children are often confronted with food appearances. These food portrayals might be a potential factor that affects a child’s dietary behaviors. We aimed to comprehensively expound the effects of these types of food appearances on dietary outcomes of children. Our objectives were to synthetize the evidence of the experiments that study the effects of foods embedded in children’s entertainment media throughout a systematic review, to conduct two meta-analyses (food choice and intake) in order to quantify the effects, and to examine to what extent the effects of foods embedded in entertainment media varies across different moderating variables. We conducted a systematic search of five databases for studies published up to July 2018 regarding terms related to children and foods embedded in entertainment media. We identified 26 eligible articles, of which 13 (20 effect sizes) and 7 (13 effect sizes) were considered for a meta-analysis on food choice and intake, respectively. Most of the studies were assessed as having a middle risk of bias. Overall, food being embedded in entertainment media is a strategy that affects the eating behaviors of children. As most of the embedded foods in the included studies had low nutritional values, urgent measures are needed to address the problem of childhood obesity

Efecto sobre el público infantil de los emplazamientos de comida en series de dibujos animados

El estudio de la influencia del branded product placement en televisión sobre los hábitos alimentarios ha sido un aspecto muy estudiado en la literatura de Marketing. Sin embargo, es menos habitual el análisis del non-branded placement, aun cuando su efecto puede ser igualmente significativo. Con un enfoque de Marketing Social Crítico, el presente trabajo en curso busca aportar evidencias de la influencia de este tipo de emplazamientos en series de dibujos animados sobre las preferencias de alimentos de los niños. A partir de un diseño experimental, en una muestra de niños con edades comprendidas entre 7 y 11 años, se indagará el impacto de los emplazamientos sobre las preferencias, según sus diferentes formatos, el grado de familiaridad con las series, el tipo de producto emplazado y el sexo del niño. Con los resultados obtenidos se pretenden desarrollar criterios para un diseño más eficaz de políticas públicas que persigan fomentar hábitos de alimentación más saludable.The study of the influence of branded product placement on television on food habits has been a relevant studied aspect in the Marketing literature. However, the analysis of non-branded placement is less common, even though its effect may be equally significant. From a Critical Social Marketing approach, the current work seeks to provide evidences of the influence of this type of placements in cartoons on children's food preferences. Based on an experimental design, on a sample of children aged 7 to 11 years, the current work will investigate the impact of the placements on the preferences, according to their different formats, the degree of familiarity with the series, the type of placed product and the sex of the child. The results obtained are intended to develop criteria for a more effective design of public policies aimed to promote healthy food habits

Factores comunes de influencia en el riesgo percibido entre grupos profesionales

The concept of risk is not obvious. The risk perception is constructed from the individual's exposure to both physical and psychosocial risks. This paper analyzes how psychosocial factors, of increasing incidence, along with other personal factors and job satisfaction indicators, influence the risk perception, and if there are commonalities shared between two professional occupations: health professionals and teaching professionals. The data used in this study were obtained from the First Survey on Working Conditions in Andalusia, conducted by the Andalusian Institute for Occupational Health and Safety through personal interviews, from January to April 2008. We have studied the risk perception in a subsample of 448 individuals: 138 health professionals and 310 teaching professionals. Associations between variables were studied by logistic regression tests. The sample shows a high homogeneity in relation to demographic features and risk perception: The frequency of risk perception was 56.3%, increasing among health professionals (60.2%) and decreasing among teaching professionals (54.6%). This study concludes that it is possible to group different professional occupations based on common factors of influence in perceived risk. This fact facilitates the design of occupational risk prevention public policies.El concepto de riesgo no es tan evidente como podría pensarse en un primer momento. La percepción de riesgo se construye desde la exposición individual a riesgos de naturaleza física y psicosocial. El presente artículo analiza, por un lado, cómo los factores psicosociales, de incidencia creciente, determinan la percepción de riesgo junto con otros elementos de naturaleza personal y laboral; y, por otro, evalúa si existen factores comunes entre dos grupos profesionales concretos: personal sanitario y docentes. Los datos empleados en esta investigación se han obtenido de la I Encuesta Andaluza de Condiciones de Trabajo, realizada por el Instituto Andaluz de Prevención de Riesgos Laborales mediante entrevistas personales durante el periodo enero-abril de 2008. Se ha estudiado la percepción de riesgo en una submuestra de 448 individuos: 138 profesionales sanitarios y 310 profesionales de la enseñanza. Las asociaciones entre variables se estudiaron mediante pruebas de regresión logística. El total de individuos seleccionados muestra una alta homogeneidad sociodemográfica y de percepción del riesgo. El 56,3% percibe algún tipo de riesgo en su trabajo, aumentando entre el personal sanitario (60,2%) y reduciéndose entre los docentes (54,6%). Las conclusiones del estudio ponen de manifiesto la posibilidad de agrupar colectivos profesionales diferentes con vistas al diseño de políticas públicas en materia de prevención, dada la existencia de dimensiones comunes de influencia acerca de la percepción de riesgo

Valoración por el consumidor de las características hedónicas, nutritivas y saludables del amaranto

La finalidad del estudio es conocer en qué medida los consumidores valoran las propiedades sensoriales, hedónicas, nutritivas y saludables de alimentos con alto valor nutritivo, como es el caso del amaranto. El estudio se fundamentó en la teoría del Valor Percibido por el Consumidor (vpc) y para obtener la información se utilizó un cuestionario con preguntas cerradas, aplicado a una muestra de 341 consumidores. Para el análisis estadístico se utilizó un modelo de ecuaciones estructurales. Los resultados obtenidos indican que el precio y la calidad, son los componentes más importantes en la conformación del vpc en el amaranto, en tanto que sus características hedónicas están muy cerca de equipararse con esos dos componentes. La nutrición es la que menos contribuyó a la creación del vpc, y en cuanto a sus propiedades benéficas para la salud, éstas son desconocidas por la mayoría de los encuestados

Predictive Power of the "Trigger Tool" for the detection of adverse events in general surgery: a multicenter observational validation study

Background In spite of the global implementation of standardized surgical safety checklists and evidence-based practices, general surgery remains associated with a high residual risk of preventable perioperative complications and adverse events. This study was designed to validate the hypothesis that a new “Trigger Tool” represents a sensitive predictor of adverse events in general surgery. Methods An observational multicenter validation study was performed among 31 hospitals in Spain. The previously described “Trigger Tool” based on 40 specific triggers was applied to validate the predictive power of predicting adverse events in the perioperative care of surgical patients. A prediction model was used by means of a binary logistic regression analysis. Results The prevalence of adverse events among a total of 1,132 surgical cases included in this study was 31.53%. The “Trigger Tool” had a sensitivity and specificity of 86.27% and 79.55% respectively for predicting these adverse events. A total of 12 selected triggers of overall 40 triggers were identified for optimizing the predictive power of the “Trigger Tool”. Conclusions The “Trigger Tool” has a high predictive capacity for predicting adverse events in surgical procedures. We recommend a revision of the original 40 triggers to 12 selected triggers to optimize the predictive power of this tool, which will have to be validated in future studies