Stop focusing!: Influencer marketing and advertising of unhealthy products aimed at children and young people in digital spaces
The marketing of unhealthy products aimed at children and young people is recognized as an effective strategy to induce greater consumption of many products. These strategies have become diversified and sophisticated in recent years to reach their target audience through digital spaces. Thus, the use of apps, smartphones, tablets and social networks allows different industries to increasingly get closer to the younger audience.
Although the importance of regulating marketing to children and young people has been recognized in some countries such as Mexico and the United Kingdom, government guidelines generally still cover traditional media (such as radio, film, television), or on-site and packaging advertising ( such as food packaging, billboards, advertising on public transport, schools, etc.), leaving digital spaces unprotected.
This report contributes to the generation of evidence to demand better health protection regulations in digital spaces. It also aims to highlight new advertising trends such as “influencer marketing”, through which advertising is no longer focused on the official accounts or sites of producers, but on the social networks of content creators with large audiences to take away. carry out unhealthy promotions. The project describes the digital behavior of several industries such as ultra-processed foods, sugary drinks, new tobacco products, and alcohol aimed at children and young people.
*This work was carried out as part of the Young Leaders Program of the NCD Child organization in order to identify key behaviors and recommendations in regulatory matters for civil society organizations and decision makers in different countries.