RESEARCH BRIEF

Food Advertising Targeted at School-Age Children:

A Content Analysis
Sara C. Folta, PhD1, Jeanne P. Goldberg, PhD, RD1, Christina Economos, PhD1,
Rick Bell, ScD1,2, Rachel Meltzer, MS1

ABSTRACT
Objective: To determine whether the contents of food and beverage advertisements are associated
with physical activity and athletic ability more often than those for toys and games, and to describe
persuasive techniques used in advertising food and beverages to children.
Design: A content analysis of advertisements during 31 hours of school-age children’s television
programming.
Analysis: Chi-square tests were used to examine differences in depictions of physical activity. Types
of persuasive techniques were tabulated and, within each advertisement, categorized as implicit or
explicit.
Results: Food and beverage ads depicted children engaged in physical activity and associated the
advertised product with athletic ability significantly more than toy and game ads. Food was most
often associated with fun and good times (75%), pleasant taste (54.1%), being hip or cool (43.2%),
and feelings of happiness (43.2%).
Implications for Research and Practice: These findings raise concern that greater levels of
physical activity and athletic ability in food advertising, in which the product is frequently associated
with fun, may promote overconsumption, especially of calorie-dense, nutrient-poor foods. Further
research would elucidate whether this concern is warranted. On the other hand, since food
advertisements are presumably effective, health educators can use these techniques to formulate
messages for nutritious foods. This concept should be tested with well-designed interventions.
Key Words: childhood obesity, food, advertising
(J Nutr Educ Behav. 2006;38:244-248)

INTRODUCTION couraged through advertising.4 Many studies indicate that

Concern that young children cannot comprehend televi-
sion advertising and that it could have undue manipulative
effects on them was first raised in the 1970s.1 Advertising
targeting children is emerging once again as a public policy
issue, this time in the context of the childhood obesity
epidemic.
Many studies have shown that children who spend
more time with media, particularly television, are more
likely to be overweight.2 Television viewing may displace
less sedentary activities3 or lead to increased energy intake,
since the consumption of greater amounts of food overall,
and specifically high-fat and high-sugar foods, may be en-
1
Gerald J. and Dorothy R. Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, Tufts
University, Boston, Mass
2
Natick Research Center, Natick, Mass.
Author for correspondence: Sara C. Folta, PhD, Gerald J. and Dorothy R. Friedman
School of Nutrition Science and Policy, Tufts University, 150 Harrison Ave, Boston,
MA 02111; Phone: (617) 636-3423; Fax: (617) 636-3781; E-mail: sara.folta@tufts.edu
©2006 SOCIETY FOR NUTRITION EDUCATION
doi: 10.1016/j.jneb.2006.04.146
advertising influences children’s food preferences and con-
sumption patterns.5 The World Health Organization con-
siders food marketing aimed at children to be a probable
causative factor contributing to the obesity epidemic.6 Even
30-second messages have been shown to influence chil-
dren’s food preferences.7
Our first goal in undertaking a content analysis of
television advertising targeting school-age children was to
determine whether physical activity and athletic ability
were associated with the product more often in food ads
than in those for toys and games. Advocacy groups and
academics have suggested that the food industry deflects
attention from its possible role in the obesity epidemic by
emphasizing physical activity.8,9 Others have suggested that
associating physical activity and athletics with nutrient-
poor foods may mislead children to believe that these foods
are healthful.10 However, to our knowledge, the association
between physical activity and food advertising has never
been quantified. To explore these claims, we compared the
frequency of moderate to vigorous physical activity in food
 Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior ● Volume 38, Number 4, July/August 2006
ads with that in toy and game ads. The logic is that to play
with a toy or game is no more likely to involve physical
activity than eating or drinking.
Our second goal was to explore the nature of the per-
suasive techniques used in advertising to children. Previous
research has indicated that advertising for food products is
most often associated with fun and happiness.1,11 However,
very few content analyses of children’s television advertis-
ing in the United States have been published since the
early 1990s. Of 5 studies identified that were published
since 1995,4,11-14 only one examines the persuasive tech-
niques that were used.11 More in-depth and current research
is warranted to determine which persuasive techniques to
sell food to children have persisted since the most recent
analyses were conducted; to examine a broader range of
persuasive techniques used to sell food; and to identify any
new strategies that may have emerged in recent years.
Although we do not have direct evidence of the effec-
tiveness of the advertisements evaluated in the present
study, we do know that advertising to children does influ-
ence their choices.5 For that reason, health educators may
want to adopt some of the strategies used by the commercial
sector to promote more healthful foods. This information
may also help inform media literacy training to enable
children to critically evaluate media messages to under-
stand their implicit purpose and impact. Finally, as the
debate continues about whether the United States should
implement policies that limit or change the nature of food
advertising targeting children, as has been done in other
countries, a systematic study of advertising would help
inform policy decisions.
STUDY PROCEDURES
A total of 31 hours of children’s programming was video-
taped during one week in late September 2003 in the
metropolitan Boston area, on stations and time slots that
were most popular with children, according to Nielsen
data.15,16 Children’s programming is increasingly found on
cable rather than network television,17 and in the United
States, most households with children have cable televi-
sion.18 Therefore, two cable stations (Nickelodeon and The
Cartoon Network) and one network station (WB) were
chosen. Time slots included weekdays from 7:00-10:00 AM
and 3:00-6:00 PM, and Saturday mornings from 7:00 AM
until 1:00 PM. Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday were
chosen as representative weekdays. For each weekday
morning and afternoon time slot, one of the three stations
was taped. A random procedure was used to determine
which station would be taped on which day. All three
stations were taped on Saturday. On WB, children’s pro-
gramming went only until 5:00 PM on weekdays and to
12:00 PM on Saturdays, and there was no children’s pro-
gramming in the morning time slot.
Two coders (the first and last authors) pretested the
initial coding instrument using a sample of the advertise-
245
ments, and then refined it. To determine the final inter-
rater reliability, all variables were coded by both coders for
a sample of 57 food, toy, and game ads viewed during one
of the time slots. This number represented 47% of the
unique food, toy, and game ads viewed during the entire 31
hours. Variables that did not achieve inter-rater reliability
(Cohen’s kappa19 or Spearman’s rho) of 0.8 were excluded
from final analysis. Inter-rater reliability statistics were cal-
culated using Pram software (version 0.4.5, Skymeg Soft-
ware, www.geocities.com/skymegsoftware/pram.html). A
third coder, blinded to the hypotheses, coded all variables
that compared food and toy ads. Inter-rater reliability for all
three coders was acceptable (⬎0.8) for these variables.
For this study, physical activity was defined as an activ-
ity done by a child or childlike character who would raise
his or her heart rate by, for example, running, jumping, or
playing a sport. A product was considered to be associated
with increased athletic ability if consuming or using it
resulted in improved physical performance.
A list of persuasive techniques used in advertising to
children was generated from a literature search of previous
content analyses, and a preliminary coding instrument was
developed. The instrument was expanded and refined in an
iterative process by coding ads observed in 5 hours of
children’s programming recorded a month prior to the
actual data collection period.
Persuasive techniques were further coded according to
whether the associations were explicit or implicit. An as-
sociation was considered explicit if it was stated explicitly
(“if you eat this, you will be stronger”) or if using or
consuming the product directly resulted in the characteris-
tic (the child eats the cereal and is able to perform an
athletic feat that he or she could not do immediately
before). An association was considered implicit if words,
images, or actions alluded to the association, but it was not
stated explicitly20 or shown.
Only advertisements deemed to be targeted toward
school-age children, ages 6-12 (rather than preschool chil-
dren, adolescents, or adults), were used in the final analysis
of the ads. Ads were considered to be targeted toward
preschool children because they were slower paced and
more repetitive, and consistently featured preschool chil-
dren. Ads targeting adolescents included more “adult”
themes (such as romance) and featured older adolescents or
adults in their early 20s.
To test hypotheses related to physical activity in food
ads compared to toy and game ads, chi-square statistics were
used.
FINDINGS
There were a total of 987 advertisements and promotions in
the 31 hours of children’s programming, or an average of
approximately 32 per hour. Because ads and promotions
were 15 to 30 seconds each, this number represents approx-
imately 12 minutes of nonprogram content per hour. Pro-
246 Folta et al/FOOD ADVERTISING TARGETED AT SCHOOL-AGE CHILDREN: A CONTENT ANALYSIS
motions, defined as announcements for upcoming shows,
movies, concerts, and contests, accounted for 28% of the
987 advertisements. Excluding promotions, there were 711
ads, of which 39% were for toys and games, and 35% were
for food and restaurants (Table 1).
Of the 711 total, 183 unique advertisements were
shown. Therefore, on average, ads were repeated approxi-
mately 4 times each; however, the number of times an ad
was repeated was highly variable and ranged from 1 to 18
times during the taping period. Of the 183 unique ads, 121
were for food, toys, or games. Of these, 100 were targeted
toward school-age children.
Breakfast cereals were the most heavily advertised foods
(10 ads of 37, or 27% of unique food ads) (Table 2). We
calculated percentage sugar content of all the cereal adver-
tised as the ratio of grams of sugars to grams of product per
serving. Based on this calculation, all cereals ranged be-
tween 33-47% sugar by weight. According to the ingredi-
ents list, virtually all sugars were added (rather than natu-
ral). Restaurant meals (such as McDonald’s Happy Meal™)
were the next most prevalent (19%) category of ads, fol-
lowed by sweet snacks and desserts (13%), other breakfast
foods (11%), and juice drinks (11%). Of the 4 juice drinks
advertised, 3 contained 10% real fruit juice and one con-
tained none. Dairy products and restaurants each accounted
for 8% of the foods advertised; 3% of the ads were for savory
snacks. There were no ads for fruits or vegetables or for
carbonated beverages during the sample period.
Physical Activity In Food Versus Toy and
Game Advertising
Our first hypothesis was that physical activity would be
depicted more often in food ads compared to toy and game
ads. Eighteen of 37 (48.6%) food ads showed some type of
physical activity by a child or child-like animated character
that would raise his or her heart rate, whereas only 13 of 63
(20.6%) toy and game ads depicted this type of physical
TABLE 1. Types of Advertisements Shown during 31 Hours of Children’s
Programming (N ⫽ 711)
% of Total
Type of Advertisement N Advertisements
Toys/games 274 39
Food/restaurant 247 35
CD/DVD/Video 63 9 implied. Associations were more likely to be explicit when
Services 29 4 the message included deceiving or tricking adults, a pleas-
Home/bath products 28 4 ant taste, or offers for free toys. When the product was
Electronics 20 3 associated with deceiving or tricking older kids or siblings,
Web site 15 2 half of the associations were implicit and half were explicit.
PSA 13 2
Local ad 8 1
Clothes/shoes 6 1
Total 711 100
TABLE 2. Types of Products Shown in Food/Restaurant Advertisements
targeted at School-Age Children (N ⫽ 37)
% of Total Food
Type of Food Product N Advertisements
Breakfast cereal 10 27
Restaurant, specific meal 7 19
Sweet snack/dessert 5 13
Other breakfast food (waffles, 4 11
toaster pastries)
Juice drinks 4 11
Dairy 3 8
Restaurant, no specific meal 3 8
Savory snack 1 3
Total 37 100
activity. The difference was significant (␹2 ⫽ 8.55, P ⬍
.007).
Our second hypothesis was that products would be
associated with increased athletic ability more often in food
ads than in toy and game ads. The product was associated
with increased athletic ability in 13 of 37 (35.1%) food ads,
and in only 8 of 63 (12.7%) toy and game ads. This was also
a significant difference (␹2 ⫽ 7.07, P ⬍ .01).
Persuasive Techniques Used In Food
Advertisements
All 37 food ads were analyzed for the persuasive techniques
used. The foods being advertised were most often associated
with fun and good times, pleasant taste, being hip or cool,
and feelings of happiness (Table 3). They were also associ-
ated with toys being given away with the product, athletic
ability, innovation or newness, friendship or social success,
magical or superhuman abilities, and deceiving or tricking
adults. Less often, food products were associated with con-
venience (10.8%; N ⫽ 4); deceiving or tricking older kids
or siblings (10.8%; N ⫽ 4); turning a bad situation into a
good one (5.4%; N ⫽ 2); fun or interesting packaging
(5.4%; N ⫽ 2); and nutrition or healthfulness (5.4%; N ⫽
2). Physical attractiveness, physical comfort, annoying a
younger sibling, being able to play on fun equipment, being
able to play with the food, and love were each associated
with the product in only one ad. No ads associated the
product with either academic success or pleasing a parent.
In most cases, the association with the product was
DISCUSSION
This study confirms the anecdotal observation that food
advertisers link their products with physical activity. Phys-
 Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior ● Volume 38, Number 4, July/August 2006 247

TABLE 3. Ten Most Common Qualities with which Food Advertisers Asso- advertising to some extent over the past decade. Finally,
ciate their Products this discrepancy may reflect the time of year that was
sampled. Sampling occurred in early fall (September), and
% Assoc. Implicit or a number of other studies have found that toy advertising
Product Associated With: N With Explicit? increases significantly in the “pre-Christmas” season.22 It is
Fun/good times 28 75.7 Implicit–82% possible that this increase had already begun when sam-
Explicit–18% pling took place.
Pleasant taste 20 54.1 Implicit–45% The most common persuasive technique that advertis-
Explicit–55% ers used was to associate their product with fun and good
Being hip or cool 16 43.2 Implicit–100% times. Apparently, this has been the most popular tech-
Feelings of happiness 16 43.2 Implicit–75% nique since the early days of television.11 Foods are also
Explicit–25% commonly associated with a pleasant taste. This finding is
Toys being given away with 13 35.1 Implicit–8% not surprising, considering that taste is a key determinant of
product Explicit–92% food choice.23
Athletic ability 13 35.1 Implicit–22% A limitation of this study is that sampling took place
Explicit–78% only in the fall. However, this time period is reasonably
Innovation/newness 12 32.4 * “typical” in that it was not during or near any programming,
Friendship/social success 11 29.7 Implicit–90.9 such as sweeps week, which would have a major effect on
Explicit–9.1 advertising. It is possible, as mentioned above, that toy
Magical/superhuman abilities 10 27 Implicit–90% advertising was higher in this sample due to its proximity to
Explicit–10% the pre-Christmas season. Another limitation is that only
Fooling/getting the better 8 21.6 Implicit–37.5% three television stations were sampled, one of which had no
of adults Explicit–62.5% programming for children in the morning. However, the
stations were chosen because they were rated as the most
*Did not achieve satisfactory inter-rater reliability. popular with children, based on Nielsen media data.

ical activity was depicted in one of every two food ads, but
in just one of every five toy or game ads. Likewise, food was
associated with increased athletic ability in more than one
in three food ads, but in just one in eight toy and game ads.
These findings raise several concerns. At best, these por-
trayals of physical activity could encourage children to
become more active. At worst, advertisers could be using
them to divert the emphasis on food as a contributor to
obesity. Further study is warranted to determine children’s
perceptions of this relationship and of the effect, either
positive or negative, that these ads may have on behavior.
Focus groups in which children view and respond to the ads
would help to answer this question. Another approach
would be to conduct copy testing research, which is often
used by the Federal Trade Commission to help determine if
advertising is deceptive.21 This type of research involves
exposing a representative sample of the target population to
advertisements and then surveying the sample to determine
their perceptions of the ad.
We found that food advertising accounted for 35% of
all advertisements shown. Past studies have found that food
ads account for over 50% of all ads targeted toward chil-
dren.14 A number of factors could explain the discrepancy.
Food advertisers may be reducing the number of food ads
targeted toward children in response to increasing pressure.
Many of the studies that showed a higher percentage of
food ads were done before CDs, DVDs, video, electronics,
and the Web were commonplace. It is also possible that
given a limited number of advertising minutes per hour,
these newer items have “crowded out” food, toy, and game
IMPLICATIONS FOR RESEARCH AND
PRACTICE
Health educators can use some of the persuasive techniques
identified in this study to formulate messages for nutritious
foods targeted to school-age children. For example, based
on these findings, a public service announcement (PSA)
that promotes a healthful food such as broccoli to school-
age children would associate the food with fun and happi-
ness, and would imply that it tastes good. Well-designed
interventions to test whether these techniques will work to
increase consumption of more desirable foods are
warranted.
Educators can also use this information to help design
media literacy training for children. For example, such
training could help make children aware that food is often
associated with fun and happiness in order to make it seem
more desirable. Older children have the ability to critically
evaluate these types of associations once they are aware of
them.
Although a nutrient analysis of the advertised foods was
not conducted, our study corroborates earlier findings that
advertised foods are poor in nutritional quality.4 The foods
advertised were high in calories, fat, and/or sugar. There
were no ads for fruits or vegetables. The net result is that
children, who watch between 20,000 and 40,000 advertise-
ments per year,5 are probably getting a skewed picture of
foods and diets. A number of studies have established the
link between exposure to television advertising and food
preference and choice. The link between preference,
248 Folta et al/FOOD ADVERTISING TARGETED AT SCHOOL-AGE CHILDREN: A CONTENT ANALYSIS
choice, and obesity has yet to be explored. Studies in which
food advertising is removed from television programming to
which children are usually exposed in a natural environ-
ment will help clarify its specific role in the etiology of
obesity.
There has been increasing debate about whether limits
should be placed on food advertising targeted toward chil-
dren. Just as it was inappropriate for cigarette advertisers to
portray smoking in the context of a fun, active lifestyle, it
may be inappropriate for food advertisers to portray less
healthful foods in this context, especially in those that are
targeted toward children. Therefore, it seems reasonable to
consider limitations on food advertising targeted toward
children.
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