*Disclaimer: Please note that parts of this English sci-fly were automatically translated.*
Teenagers can barely scroll through their social media feed for a minute, without being confronted with the most tempting food advertisements. Teens are the perfect target group for food marketers. This is due to a combination of two factors: they have only just gained the freedom to choose what they want to eat, and their brains are still developing, making them less resistant to the short-term temptations of tasty food. But what exactly do teenagers see in online food advertisements, and why do these advertisements appeal to them so much? Researchers investigated this among Canadian teens.
CORE
- Teenagers mainly see advertisements for ultra-processed, sweet, and ready-made foods on social media, specifically for sweet drinks, fast food, and candy/chocolate. Within these categories, there is a wide variety in the types of products advertised (from ice cream to coffee, mayonnaise, pasta sauce, and canned tuna) and in the brands behind these advertisements.
- The way these advertisements are designed is particularly appealing to young people because of the way they are presented (e.g., with bright colors) and the use of special discounts (“buy one, get one free”). Advertisements on specific themes such as sports and vacations, and advertisements with humor, are also appealing to teenagers.
- Policies and regulations surrounding food marketing to teenagers must take into account the varied spectrum of foods advertised online and the visual design and discounts that make these products particularly attractive to teenagers
RESEARCH METHODS
What? What food-related advertisements do teenagers see on social media, and what advertising techniques make these advertisements appealing to them?
Who? 468 Canadian teenagers aged 13 to 17 (76% girls, 7% boys, 7% gender-neutral teenagers)
How? In this exploratory study, teenagers used an app on their phones to keep track of the food-related advertisements they saw in a week on the social media platforms they use. For each advertisement, they reported the advertised product and brand, the social media platform on which they saw the advertisement, and the technique used by advertisers to make the product appealing to teenagers.
FINDINGS
- In one week, the 468 teenagers saw a total of 3,385 food advertisements on the four most popular social media platforms.
- Most advertisements appeared on Instagram (42%), followed by TikTok (26%), Snapchat (27%), and YouTube (12%). Girls saw relatively more food advertisements on TikTok, while boys (compared to girls and gender-neutral teenagers) saw more advertisements on YouTube (see also Table 1).
- More than 80% of the advertisements were for the food categories beverages, fast food, candy and chocolate, and snacks. Within these categories, the most advertised products were soft drinks and mixed sweet drinks such as frappuccinos and frozen lemonades, sandwiches, cookies, and chips (see also Table 2).
- The advertisements were placed by 557 different food brands. The most common brands across all four platforms were multinationals in the food industry, with McDonalds, Coca-Cola, Starbucks, and Subway forming the top four. However, the relative share of their advertisements was low (only 4-6% per brand) and the food advertisements that teenagers saw were from many different brands.
- The majority of young people, almost a quarter, reported visual style as the most commonly used advertising technique (see also Table 3). This involves the use of colors, fonts, and animations. In addition, special offers (such as limited editions, combination deals, and giveaways), themes (such as sports, holidays, technology), music, and celebrities (including influencers) were also frequently used.
DETAILS
Elliot, C., Truman, E., & Black, J. E. (2025). Food marketing to teenagers: Examining the digital palate of targeted appeals. Appetite, 207, 107912. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2025.107912
This sci-fly was written by Levie Karssen (Radboud University) for RAD-blog, the blog about smoking, alcohol, drugs and diet.
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