Would Reducing Children's Exposure to Food Advertising Prevent Unhealthy Weight Gain?

Purpose of review: To provide and consider evidence for the role of food advertising in childhood obesity development and reflect on the efficacy of current policy interventions to restrict children's food advertising exposure.

Recent findings: Children are exposed to extensive advertising for unhealthy foods, particularly online. Visually appealing techniques and salient themes are employed by food marketers to capture children's attention and provoke engagement and emotionally driven responding. Food advertising exposure adversely affects children's food behaviors, and the relationship with obesity meets established criteria for causality. Theoretical models proposing likely pathways underpinning observed behavioral effects have gathered empirical support. Implemented restrictive food advertising policies have achieved reductions in exposure, persuasive power, and purchasing of unhealthy foods, though no country has yet implemented comprehensive regulations across all forms of food advertising and marketing. Actions to reduce children's food advertising exposure, and the persuasive power of that exposure, are an important part of an effective approach to preventing childhood weight gain and obesity and reducing health inequalities. Tackling digital food marketing is challenging but essential to public health efforts given its ubiquitous and influential presence in children's lives.