Food and Beverage advertisements of popular children’stelevision channels in India: frequency and nutritive quality.

Introduction

The increasing trend of Noncommunicable diseases away from the communicable diseases has been seen both in developed and developing countries and has almost tripled since 1975. 38 million children under the age of 5 were overweight or obese in 2019. Over 340 million children and adolescents aged 5-19 were overweight or obese in 2016.¹ Overweight and obese children are more likely to stay obese into adulthood and develop Noncommunicable diseases at younger age.² There is also a predicted 27.5 % rise in overweight children of South East Asian region between 2005 and 2010.³ There is evidence from the studies that food promotion influences children’s food preferences.⁴ Due to westernization of society, there is increasing shift from local dietary practices to a developed country style diet among the children in the developing countries like India. Children are the most targeted age group for food promotion. Television is the main channel for marketing food to children in many countries and the same was indicated as high recall of food adverts among children.⁵ This study was taken to assess the frequency and nutritive quality of advertised food and beverages of popular children’s television channels in India.

Materials and Methods

Data was collected by screen recording of the Ad's, broadcasted on top 5 Indian TV channels (i, e.NICK, DK, CN, POGO and Syay) from 6 AM to 10 PM per day, for 1 month from October –September including 8 week days and 8 weekends. Each day, each (n-5) investigators recorded for 2 random hours / channel (n-5).1860 TV Ad’s and total of 160 hours were recorded for a month. The Ad’s targeted for adults were excluded.The frequency of food and beverages advertisements was analyzed per hour. The ads were categorized as per ‘nutrient profile model’ of WHO for the SEAR.⁶ The nutrient content of the food product provided in the nutrient declaration panel was cross-checked with the cut-off values given by FSSAI 2015.⁷ The foods exceeding the limits of recommended values for fat, total calories, added sugar and sodium were considered as unhealthy. Results were analyzed by descriptive statistics using SPSS ver.²⁰ software. Graphs and Tables were used wherever necessary.

Results

Among the total ad’s recorded 1860 ads were found to be targeted for children, with 5+1 commercials per hour as average frequency.  

Table 1 illustrates that maximum (45%) of them were food and beverages ad’s with the highest frequency of 11-13 per hour. 

F1-confectionary, f2- fine bakery wares, f3- breads and buns, f4-cereals, f5-ready to eat snacks, f6-fresh frozen non-veg foods, f7-processed non-veg foods, f8- frozen dairy based products, f9-cursed dairy based desserts, f10- cheese and analogues, f11- composite foods (prepared foods) f12-fats, oils, and fat emulsion, f13-pasta and noodles and like products, f14-fresh and frozen foods and vegetables and legumes, f15- processed fruits and vegetables, f16-solid form soybean products, f17- sauces, dips, dressings, b1- juices 100% concentration, b2-milk and dairy based drinks, b3-water based flavoured drink, b4- coffee tea, coffee substitutes.

Figure 1 Illustrates that category f5-ready to eat snacks (examples- Kur-kure, Bingo, Lays, Crax pasta crunch etc.) were broadcasted more than other ad’s. and categories like f6 (fresh frozen non-veg foods), f7 (processed non-veg foods) had nil ad’s broadcasted in the study period.

Cut off values per serving:

Energy -210cal, Sodium -0.5g, Trans fat – 0.23 g, Added sugar- 3g, total fat-7

Figure 2 illustrates that maximum (580) of the ad’s exceeded the cut off values for energy levels.

Figure 3 shows that total percentage of healthy foods and beverages ads were only 31%.

Discussion

Marketing is a powerful behaviour change mechanism. Most of the food and beverages advertisements broadcasted in the TV are promoted with the popular cartoon characters, making it easier for the kids to prefer those more. This study evidences that, in India most of the advertisements broadcasted were food and beverages advertisements (45%), which is higher when compared to the study done in Argentina by Alicia Rovirosa et.al(20%).⁸ The frequency of these advertisements was 11-13 per hour. The food type f5 (ready to eat snacks. ex. Kur-Kure, Lays, Crax pasta crunch etc.), were broadcasted more than other types of foods, which is found different than the study conducted in South Korea by Bridget Kelly et.al,where the most frequently advertised food product types were sugar sweetened drinks (19%).⁹ Categorieslike f6 (fresh frozen non-veg) and f7 (processed non-veg) had nil Ad’s broadcasted throughout the study period. Total 580(31.18%) Ad’s exceeded the cut off values for total energy, 100(5.3%) Ad’s exceeded the cut offs for sodium levels, 180(9.6%) Ad’s exceeded trans fat level, 300(16.12%) Ad’s exceeded the cut offs for added sugar level, and 210(11.29%) Ad’s exceeded the cut offs for total fat levels.

In this study, it was found that only 31% of total advertisements were healthy and 69% were unhealthy, where as in the study conducted in Canada by Charlene Elliott et.al., 59.4% were not permitted for marketing to children based on nutritional quality criteria in all three (WHO,CANADA HEALTH and PAHO) nutrient profile models.¹⁰ The trend of Ad’s in a day increased from 6 AM to 6 PM, and the peak hours were from 6 PM to 8 PM on both weekdays and weekends and were broadcasted more in the weekends compared to weekdays.

Conclusion and recommendations

A total of 45% advertisements accounted for food and beverages. Most (69%) of the advertised foods and beverages were un-healthy and were broadcasted more during weekend. The recommended diet goal for kids by FSSAI gets little promotional support. Thus, it is clear that children are being exposed to an unhealthy diet through food promotion.

NGOs and governments should use ‘social marketing’ to encourage healthy eating.The FSSAI should come up with a nutrient profile model for all the types of foods and beverages which is suitable for Indian diet, and for easy calculation of the nutritive quality. Stringent actions should be taken by the Advertising Standards Council of India towards unhealthy foods; before these become staple food for our kids.The food companies should provide a nutritive score on every food covers, interpreting the healthiness of the food to help a common man to understand the quality.

Source of funding: None.

Conflict of interest: None.