The Presence and Promotion of Foods and Beverages in the YouTube Channels of The World’s Most Influential Kid Ps: A Comparative Study Between the United States and Spain

Abstract

This study aims to determine the different types of foods and beverages that predominate in the channels of kid youtubers in Spain and the United States, which serve as a model for children’s nutritional habits. The study looked at a sample of 18 YouTube channels and 553 videos from a universe of 1551 videos. Four main conclusions have been drawn: there are significant differences depending on the origin of the channels, with a greater presence of oils, fats and meat in Spanish channels, and of cereals, chocolates, sugar and fruit in channels from the United States; in 60% of the videos, brands are being promoted (without appropriate identification), with statistically significant differences according to the country of origin; the main communication objective is a promotional objective, with differences according to country, being more educational/promotional in the United States and more focused on entertainment/promotion in Spain; and in 16% of cases, the children showed excessive or compulsive consumption —the videos do not appear to promote, in general, healthy nutritional habits.   This article has been funded by the SIC-SPAIN 2.0 Project “Safer Internet Centre Spain 2.0”, a project co-funded by the European Union (EU).