| ObjectiveTo examine the exposure of children and adolescents aged 3～18 to prepackaged food advertisements on television(TV)in Beijing,China.Set simulated policy scenarios and calculate the effect of advertisements exposure,providing evidence support for promoting the formulation of prepackaged food advertisements related policies.MethodsThe top five popular channels of children and adolescents aged 3 to 18 years old were selected as study channels.Four weekdays and four weekend days were randomly selected over the period from 19th October 2020 to 17th January 2021,excluding holidays and school holidays were selected as study dates.A total of 720 hours prepackaged food advertisements were included for coding and analysis.The food marketing module of coding table of INFORMAS(the International Network for Food and Obesity/Noncommunicable Diseases Research,Monitoring and Action Support)was used to code the basic information of advertisements,usage of marketing strategies,nutritional composition,classification,and quality of prepackaged food.WHO WPRO(World Health Organization Nutrient Profile Model for the Western Pacific Region)Nutrient Profile Model and Chinese Food Classification System(GB2760-2011)were used to classify and prepackaged foods were classified into three categories based on WHO WPRO Nutrient Profile Model:permitted to be marketing,not permitted to be marketing,and not applicable.Based on the research results of advertisements exposure and domestic and foreign policies,set 4 simulated policy scenarios.The frequency,composition ratio,and exposure hours of children and adolescents’ advertisements were used to reflect the exposure of prepackaged food advertisements.chi square(χ2)was used to compare the differences between groups.The percentage reduction in exposure of children and adolescents in prepackaged food television advertisements that do not allow marketing reflects the effectiveness of policy scenarios.ResultsA total of 4 914 prepackaged food advertisements were monitored,48.0%(2 360)of which were not permitted to be marketing.There were more prepackaged food advertisements which were not permitted to be marketing on weekend days than that on weekdays(64.4%vs.35.6%).There were more prepackaged food advertisements which were not permitted to be marketing on China Central Television(CCTV)channels than that on local channels(89.0%vs.11.0%).There were more prepackaged food advertisements which were not permitted to be marketing on channels for children and adolescents than that on public channels(83.3%vs.16.7%).The difference was statistically significant(all P values<0.05).The top 6 prepackaged food advertisements were 12-36 months follow up formulae(32.9%),savory snacks(14.6%),milk drinks(13.9%),cheese(9.0%),energy drinks,tea,and coffee(6.1%)and chocolate and candy(4.5%).The most commonly use marketing strategies were brand benefit claims(94.7%)and promotional characters(78.5%).Health related ingredient claims(32.1%vs.2.5%)and nutritional function claims(8.9%vs.4.1%)were commonly used in advertisements which were not permitted to be marketing than advertisements which were permitted.The difference was statistically significant(all P values<0.05).the highest exposure hour of children and adolescents in prepackaged food TV advertisements which were not permitted to be marketing during weekdays and weekend days was 18:00:00 to 18:59:59 and 12:00:00 to 12:59:59 respectively.Prohibiting the broadcast of advertisements which were not permitted to be marketing within the maximum 5 hours of advertisements exposure had the best effect on reducing the exposure in advertisements which were not permitted to be marketing on weekdays,reducing exposure by 65.8%.If the transfer of advertisements was not prohibited,the effect would be reduced by 48.3%.Prohibiting advertisements which were not permitted to be marketing on channels for children and adolescents had the best effect on reducing the exposure in advertisements which were not permitted to be marketing on weekend days,reducing exposure by 85.8%%.If the transfer of advertisements was not prohibited,the exposure will increase by 2.8%.ConclusionChildren and adolescents aged 3～18 in Beijing were highly exposed to TV marketing of prepackaged food.The proportion of prepackaged foods that are not allowed to be marketing was nearly half,and they were mostly distributed in channels and time slots with a high number of viewers for children and adolescents.Prepackaged food TV advertisements generally used marketing strategies,among which advertisements that do not allowed to be marketing were more likely to use health related ingredient claims and nutritional function claims.It is urgent to introduce corresponding policies to restrict HFSS prepackaged food television advertisements.Prohibit advertisements that within the maximum 5 hours of advertisements exposure on weekdays and that on channels for children and adolescents on weekend days had the best effect of policy scenario simulation.If there was no restriction on the transfer of advertisements,the policy effect might be halved,and even increase the exposure of children and adolescents. |
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