Obesity in children and young people is a global health challenge. The widespread marketing of unhealthy foods (food and non-alcoholic drinks high in fat, sugar and salt, or HFSS) plays a causal role in unhealthy eating and obesity. Food and eating is typically presented as an issue of ‘choice’. However, this disregards the fact that current obesogenic environments use many tactics to promote unhealthy foods, interfering with people’s ability to make good choices.
This study examined:
1. Content appealing to children and young people on websites of top food and drink retail brands in Ireland
2. Marketing techniques on Facebook: Pages of food brands that have the highest reach among young teens, the first such study of which we are aware
3. Parents’ awareness of digital food marketing to their children in an online, two-stage survey with digital marketing examples and open-ended response options
