Amy M. Bernhardt

How Television Fast Food Marketing Aimed at Children Compares with Adult Advertisements

Objectives Quick service restaurant (QSR) television advertisements for children’s meals were compared with adult advertisements from the same companies to assess whether self-regulatory pledges for food advertisements to children had been implemented. Methods All nationally televised advertisements for the top 25 US QSR restaurants from July 1, 2009 to June 30, 2010 were obtained and viewed to identify those advertising meals for children and these advertisements were compared with adult advertisements from the same companies. Content coding included visual and audio assessment of branding, toy premiums, movie tie-ins, and depictions of food. For image size comparisons, the diagonal length of the advertisement was compared with the diagonal length of salient food and drink images. Results Almost all of the 92 QSR children’s meal advertisements that aired during the study period were attributable to McDonald’s (70%) or Burger King (29%); 79% of 25,000 television placements aired on just four channels (Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon, Disney XD, and Nicktoons). Visual branding was more common in children’s advertisements vs. adult advertisements, with food packaging present in 88% vs. 23%, and street view of the QSR restaurant present in 41% vs. 12%. Toy premiums or giveaways were present in 69% vs. 1%, and movie tie-ins present in 55% vs. 14% of children’s vs. adult advertisements. Median food image diagonal length was 20% of the advertisement diagonal for children’s and 45% for adult advertisements. The audio script for children’s advertisements emphasized giveaways and movie tie-ins whereas adult advertisements emphasized food taste, price and portion size. Conclusions Children’s QSR advertisements emphasized toy giveaways and movie tie-ins rather than food products. Self-regulatory pledges to focus on actual food products instead of toy premiums were not supported by this analysis.

Children's reaction to depictions of healthy foods in fast-food television advertisements.

IMPORTANCE Since 2009, quick-service restaurant chains, or fast-food companies, have agreed to depict healthy foods in their advertising targeted at children. OBJECTIVE To determine how children interpreted depictions of milk and apples in television advertisements for childrens meals by McDonalds and Burger King (BK) restaurants. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS Descriptive qualitative study in a rural pediatric practice setting in Northern New England. A convenience sample of 99 children (age range, 3-7 years) was shown depictions of healthy foods in fast-food advertisements that aired from July 1, 2010, through June 30, 2011. The images from McDonalds and BK showed milk and apples. Children were asked what they saw and not prompted to respond specifically to any aspect of the images. EXPOSURE Two still images drawn from advertisements for healthy meals at McDonalds and BK. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES Childrens responses were independently content coded to food category by 2 researchers. RESULTS Among the 99 children participating, only 51 (52%) and 69 (70%) correctly identified milk from the McDonalds and BK images, respectively, with a significantly greater percentage correct (P = .02 for both) among older children. The childrens recall of apples was significantly different by restaurant, with 79 (80%) mentioning apples when describing the McDonalds image and only 10 (10%) for the BK image (P < .001). The percentage correct was not associated with age in either case. Conversely, although french fries were not featured in either image, 80 children (81%) recalled french fries after viewing the BK advertisement. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE Of the 4 healthy food images, only depiction of apples by McDonalds was communicated adequately to the target audience. Representations of milk were inadequately communicated to preliterate children. Televised depictions of apple slices by BK misled the children in this study, although no action was taken by government or self-regulatory bodies.

Children's Recall of Fast Food Television Advertising—Testing the Adequacy of Food Marketing Regulation

Background and Aim In the United States, the fast food companies McDonald’s and Burger King participate in marketing self-regulation programs that aim to limit emphasis on premiums and promote emphasis of healthy food choices. We determine what children recall from fast food television advertisements aired by these companies. Methods One hundred children aged 3–7 years were shown McDonald’s and Burger King children’s (MDC & BKC) and adult (MDA & BKA) meal ads, randomly drawn from ads that aired on national US television from 2010–11. Immediately after seeing the ad, children were asked to recall what they had seen and transcripts evaluated for descriptors of food, healthy food (apples or milk), and premiums/tie-ins. Results Premiums/tie-ins were common in children’s but rarely appeared in adult ads, and all children’s ads contained images of healthy foods (apples and milk). Participants were significantly less likely to recall any food after viewing the children’s vs. the adult ad (MDC 32% [95% confidence interval 23, 41] vs. MDA 68% [59, 77]) p <0.001; BKC 46% [39, 56] vs. BKA 67% [58, 76] respectively, p = 0.002). For children’s ads alone and for both restaurants, recall frequency for all food was not significantly different from premium/tie-ins, and participants were significantly more likely to recall other food items than apples or milk. Moreover, premiums/tie-ins were recalled much more frequently than healthy food (MDC 45% [35, 55] vs. 9% [3, 15] p<0.001; BKC 54% [44, 64] vs. 2% [0, 5] respectively, p<0.001). Conclusions Children’s net impressions of television fast food advertising indicate that industry self-regulation failed to achieve a de-emphasis on toy premiums and tie-ins and did not adequately communicate healthy menu choices. The methods devised for this study could be used to monitor and better regulate advertising patterns of practice.