Item request has been placed! ×
Item request cannot be made. ×
loading  Processing Request

How Food Marketing on Instagram Shapes Adolescents' Food Preferences: Online Randomized Trial.

Item request has been placed! ×
Item request cannot be made. ×
loading   Processing Request
Read Online Read More Add to Saved list
  • Additional Information
    • Source:
      Publisher: JMIR Publications Country of Publication: Canada NLM ID: 100959882 Publication Model: Electronic Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 1438-8871 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 14388871 NLM ISO Abbreviation: J Med Internet Res Subsets: MEDLINE
    • Publication Information:
      Publication: <2011- > : Toronto : JMIR Publications
      Original Publication: [Pittsburgh, PA? : s.n., 1999-
    • Subject Terms:
      Food Preferences* ; Social Media*; Adolescent ; Advertising ; Child ; Food ; Humans ; Marketing
    • Abstract:
      Background: Worldwide obesity rates have prompted 16 countries to enact policies to reduce children's exposure to unhealthy food marketing, but few policies address online advertising practices or protect adolescents from being targeted. Given adolescents spend so much time online, it is critical to understand how persuasive Instagram food advertisements (ads) are compared with traditional food ads. To strengthen online food marketing policies, more evidence is needed on whether social media ads are more persuasive than other types of ads in shaping adolescents' preferences.
      Objective: This study examined whether adolescents could identify food companies' Instagram posts as ads, and the extent to which Instagram versus traditional food ads shape adolescents' preferences.
      Methods: In Part 1, participants aged 13-17 years (N=832) viewed 8 pairs of ads and were asked to identify which ads originated from Instagram. One ad in each pair was selected from traditional sources (eg, print; online banner ad), and the other ad was selected from Instagram, but we removed the Instagram frame-which includes the logo, comments, and "likes." In Part 2, participants were randomized to rate food ads that ostensibly originated from (1) Instagram (ie, we photoshopped the Instagram frame onto ads); or (2) traditional sources. Unbeknownst to participants, half of the ads in their condition originated from Instagram and half originated from traditional sources.
      Results: In Part 1, adolescents performed worse than chance when asked to identify Instagram ads (P<.001). In Part 2, there were no differences on 4 of 5 outcomes in the "labeled ad condition." In the "unlabeled ad condition," however, they preferred Instagram ads to traditional ads on 3 of 5 outcomes (ie, trendiness, P=.001; artistic appeal, P=.001; likeability, P=.001).
      Conclusions: Adolescents incorrectly identified traditional ads as Instagram posts, suggesting the artistic appearance of social media ads may not be perceived as marketing. Further, the mere presence of Instagram features caused adolescents to rate food ads more positively than ads without Instagram features.
      (©Marie Bragg, Samina Lutfeali, Tenay Greene, Jessica Osterman, Madeline Dalton. Originally published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research (https://www.jmir.org), 22.10.2021.)
    • References:
      Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2020 Mar 03;17(5):. (PMID: 32138342)
      Econ Hum Biol. 2011 Jul;9(3):221-33. (PMID: 21439918)
      Pediatr Obes. 2019 Jun;14(6):e12508. (PMID: 30690924)
      Appetite. 2020 Mar 1;146:104501. (PMID: 31669579)
      Pediatr Clin North Am. 2012 Jun;59(3):659-75, viii. (PMID: 22643172)
      Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2020 Mar 26;17(7):. (PMID: 32225032)
      Soc Sci Med. 2012 May;74(9):1407-17. (PMID: 22436575)
      Public Health Nutr. 2008 Sep;11(9):897-904. (PMID: 18005487)
      Health Promot Int. 2016 Dec;31(4):954-961. (PMID: 26276799)
      Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2008 Mar;1124:111-26. (PMID: 18400927)
      Nutr Rev. 2019 Nov 1;77(11):787-816. (PMID: 31329232)
      Psychol Sci. 2007 May;18(5):429-34. (PMID: 17576283)
      J Adolesc Health. 2009 Sep;45(3 Suppl):S18-29. (PMID: 19699433)
      Pediatr Obes. 2018 Apr;13(4):256-264. (PMID: 29076259)
      Am J Public Health. 2015 Dec;105(12):2438-48. (PMID: 26469641)
      Psychol Sci. 2016 Jul;27(7):1027-35. (PMID: 27247125)
      J Res Adolesc. 2011 Mar 1;21(1):166-179. (PMID: 23730122)
      Am J Public Health. 2020 Mar;110(3):271-272. (PMID: 32023097)
      Obesity (Silver Spring). 2014 Dec;22(12):2544-51. (PMID: 25155745)
      Am J Public Health. 2014 Dec;104(12):e56-64. (PMID: 25322294)
      Pediatrics. 2019 Apr;143(4):. (PMID: 30833297)
      Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2020 Mar 25;17(7):. (PMID: 32218252)
      Child Dev. 2018 Jan;89(1):37-47. (PMID: 28612930)
      Digit Health. 2017 May 23;3:2055207617710802. (PMID: 29942600)
    • Grant Information:
      DP5 OD021373 United States OD NIH HHS; R01 CA248441 United States CA NCI NIH HHS
    • Contributed Indexing:
      Keywords: Instagram; adolescents; food marketing; social media; traditional media
    • Publication Date:
      Date Created: 20211022 Date Completed: 20211028 Latest Revision: 20211118
    • Publication Date:
      20231215
    • Accession Number:
      PMC8571690
    • Accession Number:
      10.2196/28689
    • Accession Number:
      34677136