The Online Marketing of Food to Children: Is It Just Fun and Games?

The alarming increase in childhood obesity has captured the attention of a broad set of citizens and institutions, with calls for action becoming increasingly powerful. Particular questions are being raised about the impacts of food marketing on children. The Internet has become an important marketing communications tool and is being used by advertisers to target children. This has prompted calls for a review of online marketing practices from public health officials, policy makers, consumer advocates, and industry groups. The objectives of this study are to inform decision makers about the nature of online marketing to children and to identify practices that may raise policy concerns. The authors report results of the first systematic content analysis of food marketers’ Web sites that either target children directly or contain content of interest to them. The authors identify 11 online marketing practices of public policy relevance. They discuss the empirical findings in terms of these issues and outline research needs.