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hNew WHO report calls for better monitoring of digital marketing of food and drink products to children, which are damaging to their health
Children are increasingly being exposed to the digital marketing of unhealthy products as advertisers migrate to the less-regulated world of social media and mobile devices, making ads more difficult to monitor or track, according to a new report released by WHO/Europe today.
The new report, Monitoring and Restricting Digital Marketing of Unhealthy Products to Children, also aims to provide guidance to support Member States in the WHO European Region in monitoring digital marketing of unhealthy products to children.
Curbing online advertising of unhealthy foods to children and young people is seen as critical to efforts to reduce adverse impact of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) – such as heart disease, cancer, obesity and chronic respiratory disease – which can be prevented by addressing major risk factors and behaviours during childhood. NCDs account for 86 percent of deaths and 77 percent of the disease burden in the WHO European region.
Despite existing policies and commitments to curb the marketing of unhealthy foods and sugary drinks to children, latest evidence shows that they are regularly exposed to these products through digital channels. As children and adolescents are shifting increasingly using mobile devices and social media online, where personalised and targeted advertising predominates, the situation is likely to further deteriorate over time.
In a bid to curb this trend, WHO/European Member States took early steps to address the marketing of unhealthy foods, alcohol and tobacco.
“The overriding concern is that exposure of children and young people to the online marketing of unhealthy food products tobacco and alcohol is common,” said Dr Joao Breda, head of the WHO European office for the prevention and control of noncommunicable diseases. “Moreover, we have also regulatory frameworks that do not fully protect children and young people and they may need improvements.”
Parents have difficulties in being effective gatekeepers of their children’s digital activities, according to the report, which added that many had wrongly assumed that their children have the capacity to ignore marketing messages. The shift to social media on mobile screens means that parents are now even less likely to know when their children are being exposed to certain types of ads. There is a growing body of evidence demonstrating that exposure to digital marketing is associated with increased risk of unhealthy behaviours and health outcomes among children and adolescents.
NCDs and Digital Advertising to Children
This report builds on a June 2018 Expert Meeting on Monitoring of Digital Marketing of Unhealthy Products to Children and adolescents, which provided, clear steps for how to monitor the children’s exposure to marketing of unhealthy products.
Governments and public health authorities struggle with this threat to the well-being of children, and efforts have been complicated by rapid changes in the digital and programmatic marketing ecosystem.
Still, very little data on the digital lives of children exists, “This report clearly points out that children’s time spent online, including on social media, has steadily increased and their exposure to digital marketing has grown. The report urgently calls for developing and implementing a set of tools for monitoring the exposure of children to digital marketing.” Said Dr Bente Mikkelsen, Director of the Division of Noncommunicable Diseases and Promoting Health through the Life-course at WHO/Europe.
Gather Data on Children’s Exposure to Digital Marketing
”We need to know more about the children to understand how to protect them in the best possible way. We need to know how old they are, whether they are boys or girls, where they are from, their social economic status. We even need to know what sort of digital device they use,” said Dr. Breda. “Then we need to know what sort of techniques, such as paid advertisements or another kind of campaign, including user generated online content, are being used and how do children and adolescents engage with those advertisers.”
The idea would then be to establish a panel-based or automated e-research methodology that can be implemented in a standard way across Member States to benchmark and highlight the issues to regulators and policy makers.
Findings could then help make the case to national governments that action is needed to protect children and young people not just from advertisements for unhealthy foods, but also from tobacco and alcohol.
WHO Regional Office for Europe hopes that its new report will help to strengthen efforts by Member States to address this important and growing public health issue and contribute to improving the well being of the Region’s children and adolescents.
The new report, Monitoring and Restricting Digital Marketing of Unhealthy Products to Children, also aims to provide guidance to support Member States in the WHO European Region in monitoring digital marketing of unhealthy products to children.
Curbing online advertising of unhealthy foods to children and young people is seen as critical to efforts to reduce adverse impact of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) – such as heart disease, cancer, obesity and chronic respiratory disease – which can be prevented by addressing major risk factors and behaviours during childhood. NCDs account for 86 percent of deaths and 77 percent of the disease burden in the WHO European region.
Despite existing policies and commitments to curb the marketing of unhealthy foods and sugary drinks to children, latest evidence shows that they are regularly exposed to these products through digital channels. As children and adolescents are shifting increasingly using mobile devices and social media online, where personalised and targeted advertising predominates, the situation is likely to further deteriorate over time.
In a bid to curb this trend, WHO/European Member States took early steps to address the marketing of unhealthy foods, alcohol and tobacco.
“The overriding concern is that exposure of children and young people to the online marketing of unhealthy food products tobacco and alcohol is common,” said Dr Joao Breda, head of the WHO European office for the prevention and control of noncommunicable diseases. “Moreover, we have also regulatory frameworks that do not fully protect children and young people and they may need improvements.”
Parents have difficulties in being effective gatekeepers of their children’s digital activities, according to the report, which added that many had wrongly assumed that their children have the capacity to ignore marketing messages. The shift to social media on mobile screens means that parents are now even less likely to know when their children are being exposed to certain types of ads. There is a growing body of evidence demonstrating that exposure to digital marketing is associated with increased risk of unhealthy behaviours and health outcomes among children and adolescents.
NCDs and Digital Advertising to Children
This report builds on a June 2018 Expert Meeting on Monitoring of Digital Marketing of Unhealthy Products to Children and adolescents, which provided, clear steps for how to monitor the children’s exposure to marketing of unhealthy products.
Governments and public health authorities struggle with this threat to the well-being of children, and efforts have been complicated by rapid changes in the digital and programmatic marketing ecosystem.
Still, very little data on the digital lives of children exists, “This report clearly points out that children’s time spent online, including on social media, has steadily increased and their exposure to digital marketing has grown. The report urgently calls for developing and implementing a set of tools for monitoring the exposure of children to digital marketing.” Said Dr Bente Mikkelsen, Director of the Division of Noncommunicable Diseases and Promoting Health through the Life-course at WHO/Europe.
Gather Data on Children’s Exposure to Digital Marketing
”We need to know more about the children to understand how to protect them in the best possible way. We need to know how old they are, whether they are boys or girls, where they are from, their social economic status. We even need to know what sort of digital device they use,” said Dr. Breda. “Then we need to know what sort of techniques, such as paid advertisements or another kind of campaign, including user generated online content, are being used and how do children and adolescents engage with those advertisers.”
The idea would then be to establish a panel-based or automated e-research methodology that can be implemented in a standard way across Member States to benchmark and highlight the issues to regulators and policy makers.
Findings could then help make the case to national governments that action is needed to protect children and young people not just from advertisements for unhealthy foods, but also from tobacco and alcohol.
WHO Regional Office for Europe hopes that its new report will help to strengthen efforts by Member States to address this important and growing public health issue and contribute to improving the well being of the Region’s children and adolescents.