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Volume 17
Issue 11
10.3390/ijerph17114172
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Article

The Advertising Policies of Major Social Media Platforms Overlook the Imperative to Restrict the Exposure of Children and Adolescents to the Promotion of Unhealthy Foods and Beverages

by
Gary Sacks
* and
Evelyn Suk Yi Looi
Global Obesity Centre (GLOBE), Institute for Health Transformation, Deakin University, Burwood, Victoria 3125, Australia
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2020, 17(11), 4172; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17114172
Received: 8 May 2020 / Revised: 1 June 2020 / Accepted: 9 June 2020 / Published: 11 June 2020
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Child Nutrition Management)
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Abstract

There have been global calls to action to protect children (aged <18) from exposure to the marketing of unhealthy foods and beverages (‘unhealthy foods’). In this context, the rising popularity of social media, particularly amongst adolescents, represents an important focus area. This study aimed to examine the advertising policies of major global social media platforms related to the advertising of unhealthy foods, and to identify opportunities for social media platforms to take action. We conducted a desk-based review of the advertising policies of the 16 largest social media platforms globally. We examined their publicly available advertising policies related to food and obesity, as well as in relation to other areas impacting public health. The advertising policies for 12 of the selected social media platforms were located. None of these platforms adopted comprehensive restrictions on the advertising of unhealthy foods, with only two platforms having relevant (but very limited) policies in the area. In comparison, 11 of the 12 social media platforms had policies restricting the advertising of alcohol, tobacco, gambling, and/or weight loss. There is, therefore, an opportunity for major social media platforms to voluntarily restrict the exposure of children to the marketing of unhealthy foods, which can contribute to efforts to improve populations’ diets. View Full-Text
Keywords: social networks; advertising policy; marketing; digital platforms; unhealthy food social networks; advertising policy; marketing; digital platforms; unhealthy food
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited

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MDPI and ACS Style

Sacks, G.; Looi, E.S.Y. The Advertising Policies of Major Social Media Platforms Overlook the Imperative to Restrict the Exposure of Children and Adolescents to the Promotion of Unhealthy Foods and Beverages. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2020, 17, 4172. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17114172

AMA Style

Sacks G, Looi ESY. The Advertising Policies of Major Social Media Platforms Overlook the Imperative to Restrict the Exposure of Children and Adolescents to the Promotion of Unhealthy Foods and Beverages. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2020; 17(11):4172. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17114172

Chicago/Turabian Style

Sacks, Gary, and Evelyn S.Y. Looi. 2020. "The Advertising Policies of Major Social Media Platforms Overlook the Imperative to Restrict the Exposure of Children and Adolescents to the Promotion of Unhealthy Foods and Beverages" International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 17, no. 11: 4172. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17114172

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