Digital Food Marketing to Children and Adolescents

Food and beverage marketing has undergone a dramatic transformation in the digital age.

Fast food, snack, and beverage companies are drawing from an expanding toolbox of sophisticated online and social media marketing techniques, and the next few years will see an explosive rise in new tactics targeted especially at young people.

This report details new digital marketing tactics now being used by fast food, snack food, and soft drink companies to target children and adolescents. It includes research on the impact digital marketing has on teenagers’ behavior, and the ways in which ethnic minority youth are particularly targeted.

In light of the childhood obesity crisis, this report is designed to help policymakers, scholars, health professionals, industry leaders, and consumer advocates develop and refine safeguards for protecting young people.