Research Review: Young Children's (Aged 3 to 8 Years) Food and Beverage Brand Exposure on YouTube and YouTube Kids

The rise of mobile phone use in young children provides an excellent source of marketing for food and beverage companies. Children aged 0-8 years old are averaging about 39 minutes per day on YouTube, which is about 25% of their total daily screen time. In one study more than 1/3 of videos marked "Made for Kids" had unhealthy food products in the video content. YouTube kids has banned all paid food and beverage advertising, but this ban does not extend to branded foods or endorsements placed in videos or video previews. The marketing has changed over the years and new strategies blend food and beverage advertising with entertainment making it even more difficult for children to recognize and defend against advertising. This marketing strategy preys on the one-sided relationship between a child and the video character. The US Federal Trade Commission requires content creators to disclose any compensation from companies, but this has not been found effective in reducing the influence of this marketing style on children.

Content analysis studies have found that YouTube videos most often promote fast food, candy, sugar-sweetened beverages, and sweet or salty snacks. But similar studies had not previously been done for YouTube Kids targeted at kids age 3-8. The study published by Frances Fleming-Milici, PhD and team did just that.

This study looked at screen recordings from 81 parents (101 children). The analysis of screen recordings took note of any food, beverage or restaurant brands that appeared for at least 1 second on screen and were clearly identifiable without zooming in and without blur. The researchers found that 54% of children within the study were exposed to branded food content while on YouTube or YouTube Kids. Older children aged 6-8 were exposed 75% of the time while younger aged 3-5 year olds were exposed about 36%. The number of exposures to different branded content ranged from 1 to 34 in the 30 minute recordings, they tended to be significantly higher in the 6-8 age group. Most of the appearances were less than 10 seconds, however one brand appearance lasted 5 minutes. The content included 22% candy, 20% sugar-sweetened beverages, 16% fast-food or restaurants, 15% sweet or salty snacks, and 12% ice cream, sweet toppings, sugary cereals, diet drinks, and food retail. Only 3% of exposures were considered healthy products such as water, plain milk, or 100% juice. The researchers shockingly found that of the 236 food brand appearances ZERO had a disclosure of sponsored content. The majority of appearances came from the "lifestyle" video categories for all ages 3-8 years old. Children age 6-8 were even exposed to alcohol ads which made up 5% of food-branded products.

This marketing strategy is especially concerning because young children do not yet have the cognitive ability to be skeptical of advertisement schemes. The persistent exposure to unhealthy foods and drinks creates a mindset early on that these products are the norm and starts children on the path of diets high in calorically dense foods as opposed to nutrient dense foods. This is likely related to the continual rise in obesity and diabetes rates in children. The bans on advertisements in these platforms is a good start, but does not mean that kids are not being exposed to these sneaky and highly effective marketing strategies. Parents need to be diligent in recognizing what kids are being exposed to and decision makers needs to look at the regulations for advertising to kids given this new development in strategy.