Unhealthy Food Marketing: The Intentional Targeting of Our Children
Updated
Junk food companies—those that produce ultraprocessed meals and snacks full of toxins and lacking any nutritional value—bombard younger generations with carefully crafted, powerful advertisements promoting unhealthy, high-fat, high-sugar, and salty snacks and beverages. Research has shown that the marketing efforts of these companies lead to increased consumption of their destructive products. And now, a sweeping new study published in Obesity Reviews confirms what those of us aware already know. When young people continually see these omnipresent ads, which appear everywhere from TikTok to TV, encouraging unhealthy food choices, they are more likely to consume these harmful products. Once lured in, these young humans become more likely to develop obesity, type 2 diabetes, and other diet-related diseases that can lead to severe diseases and premature death. In other words, they become easy and often lifelong customers for Big Pharma.
For the analysis, 61 studies focused on measuring exposure to unhealthy food marketing and assessing whether and how this exposure differs across different sociodemographic variables or types of media. Of those studies, 46 examined the association between exposure to unhealthy food marketing and psychological, behavioral, or health outcomes, and one study focused on assessing both exposure and impact. Generally, the investigation defined unhealthy foods as products containing high amounts of fat, sugar, or salt, and lacking essential nutrients.
Bear in mind, these profitable companies taking advantage of young people aren’t just putting out advertising. No indeed. The report notes that they are strategically targeting vulnerable groups, especially Black and Latino youth and those in lower-income communities. By bombarding these young people with ads for fast food, soda, and candy, companies exploit the fact that teens are at a stage where they’re highly influenced by rewards, peers, and emotional branding. Even a quick five-minute ad can lead kids to eat an extra 130 calories on days when they catch the ads. Likewise, constant exposure builds brand loyalty that sticks with these youth for years, driving cravings and unhealthy preferences.
The targeting isn’t random—it’s predatory. The report highlights that Black and Latino teens see up to 54 percent more ads for sugary drinks than their white peers, often in neighborhoods with fewer healthy food options. This aggressive marketing by these multi-million-dollar companies widens health disparities, piling onto the challenges faced by communities already at higher risk for diet-related diseases. As chronic illnesses rise among young people, the study’s co-author, Nicholas Freudenberg, calls for urgent action: “We need public policies to reduce the harmful impact of these industry practices.”
Not surprisingly, social media makes this problem worse. Influencers on platforms like Instagram and TikTok promote junk food in ways that seem like friendly advice, rather than ads, making it more difficult for teens to recognize that they are being influenced by intentional marketing. Studies show this kind of exposure fuels a preference for calorie-heavy, nutrient-poor foods and creates positive feelings toward unhealthy brands. The health consequences are real: kids who see more ads for unhealthy foods are, in turn, more likely to gain weight, have higher BMIs, or even develop obesity, especially when they’re snared by manipulative ads focused on ultra-processed foods and sugary drinks.
Despite global calls from the utterly insufficient World Health Organization to curb unhealthy food marketing, the report outlines that the U.S. lags behind other places like London and Norway, which have banned junk food ads in public spaces or that target juveniles. The study advocates for stronger rules to protect not only young children but also teens and young adults, whose brains are still developing and are highly susceptible to advertising. It also calls for regulating sneaky digital ads, like influencer posts, and for access to the secret marketing data companies use to fine-tune their tactics. With overwhelming evidence of harm, the time for tougher policies is now—before another generation faces the consequences of these predatory practices.
The paper’s findings are timely and especially relevant in the post-COVID-19 pandemic era, considering the extensive increases in online exposure due to the tyrannical lockdowns, school closures, and mandatory self-quarantines during the nightmare. Indeed, the study captures a critical period when the increasing autonomy and evolving dietary behaviors of young people mesh with frequent exposure to unhealthy food marketing across multiple media and settings. Noting that research on cumulative and synergistic exposure across various media remains restricted and represents a crucial gap in the papers, the study concludes:
“Given the weight of existing evidence, policymakers should make stringent regulatory actions to mitigate the harmful influence of unhealthy food marketing a priority, particularly for vulnerable populations. The scale of the issue is further underscored by the latest Global Burden of Disease study, which reports that unhealthy diets contribute to approximately 11 million deaths per year globally. With this abundant and alarming evidence, the time to act on this extensive body of evidence is now.”
