Non-Branded Food Placements in Children’s Entertainment Programs: A Content Analysis

ABSTRACT

Food messages transmitted in media are considered to affect children´s eating habits. Depending on the healthiness of the food messages, these food portrayals can be supportive or non-supportive in educational food content, affecting eventually childhood obesity. This study aims to analyze how food references present in children´s animated cartoons are depicted, considering not only their prevalence and prominence but also their educational nature which is measured by the overall message that is being transmitted. A content analysis of non- branded food placements was conducted on the basis of 25 international cartoon series for children (aged 3–12) with 4,790 minutes of viewing. A total of 1,065 food placements occurred with a rate of one placement approximately every five minutes. A balance was found between the frequency of low and highly-recommended consumption foods and the same happened considering the educational nature of the global message. When the target age and the country of origin were considered, the least educational messages predominated in those series aimed at the oldest children group and produced in North America. This study intends to contribute to the problem of childhood obesity by indicating the educational nature of the food messages that children are confronted with. As prevalence and prominence of non-supportive food placements to educational food content is high, policy makers should consider these findings when designing public policies that aim to prevent childhood obesity.

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Cristina Fernández, Beatriz Gallardo, Paula Nadales and Sara Medina for their support in data collection and analysis. Their contributions have been fundamental for the development of this study.