Food Advertising and Childhood Obesity

This book explores the ways in which the environmental factor of advertising can influence children’s food choice and health status, and how it contributes to the significant public health issue of childhood obesity. Food Advertising and Childhood Obesity seeks to gain a better understanding of children’s food choice based on children’s exposure to different advertising by analyzing food type, brand mascot physique, health messages, and media. The book begins by reviewing the ways in which children become consumers and the role of advertising in this process. It then explores a range of advertising variables in children’s food choice and consumption. This includes theoretical and practical discussion of foods and brand mascots, health messages embodied in food advertising, and comparisons of the effects of different advertising based on entertainment level, such as using new media to present ‘advergames’ supported by television advertising. Each chapter is supported with relevant theories and a research summary is presented on each topic for clarification. The book also introduces some ways of constructive working with children and concludes with a chapter dedicated to market research and children. Written for students and practitioners of marketing, market research, and advertising, especially within the global food industry, this book offers readers a new approach to understanding child food choice and consumption that will inform effective corporate social responsibility strategies to address this issue.