The Landscape of Food and Beverage Advertising to Children and Adolescents on Canadian Television
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The Landscape of Food and Beverage Advertising to Children and Adolescents on Canadian Television Adena Pinto Thesis submitted to the University of Ottawa in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Master of Science degree in Epidemiology and Community Medicine. School of Epidemiology and Public Health Faculty of Medicine University of Ottawa © Adena Pinto, Ottawa, Canada 2020 Preface Student Contributions All studies and work presented in this thesis were conducted in the OUTLIVE Lab at the University of Ottawa. Adena Pinto was the primary investigator and primary author of the articles and content included in this thesis. The study design and methodology was done in collaboration with Dr. Monique Potvin Kent, Dr.Marie-Hélène Roy-Gagnon, Dr. Lise Dubois, and Elise Pauzé. Data acquisition, data cleaning, and dataset development was done in collaboration with Elise Pauzé, Dr. Marie-Hélène Roy-Gagnon, and Rachel Mutata. Data analysis and interpretation was conducted by Adena Pinto with critical contributions from Dr. Marie-Hélène Roy-Gagnon and Elise Pauzé. All manuscript drafts were completed by Adena Pinto with critical revisions from Dr. Monique Potvin Kent, Dr. Marie-Hélène Roy-Gagnon, Dr. Lise Dubois, Elise Pauzé and Rachel Mutata. All authors reviewed and approved the final article manuscripts presented in this thesis. Ethics Approvals and Funding The studies included in this thesis did not use information on human or animal materials and, as such, did not require reviews or approvals by a Research Ethics Board. Research conducted for this thesis was partially funded, through salary support, by Health Canada’s Office of Nutrition Policy and Promotion. This funder played no role in any aspect of the study methodology, data analysis, interpretation, manuscript development or any statements presented in this thesis. ii Acknowledgements I would first like to thank my supervisor, Dr. Monique Potvin Kent for her continual guidance, support, and encouragement over the last two years. Thank you for sharing your wealth of knowledge, your mentorship, and for providing me with career advancing opportunities. I am indebted to your contributions to my academic and professional accomplishments. To Elise Pauzé, without whom this thesis would not be possible. Thank you for being so generous with your time and for your meaningful contributions to every aspect of this thesis. You have helped me, and continue to inspire me, to become a better researcher. To my TAC members, Dr. Marie-Hélène Roy-Gagnon and Dr. Lise Dubois, thank you for serving on my committee and always having your door open to me. I greatly appreciate your valuable feedback as well as your time and effort in helping me conduct my statistical analyses and overcome the methodological challenges I faced in conducting this research. To the Office of Nutrition Policy and Promotion (in particular, Lisa Mawani, Anne-Marie Bedard, Cynthia Callard, and the rest of the Marketing to Kids team), thank you for letting me be a member of the M2K team. This thesis would not have been feasible without you introducing me to this data source, sharing analysis resources, and providing me with financial support to complete this work. To my colleagues in the Integrated Data and Enhanced Analytics (IDEA) team, thank you for providing me with unique professional learning opportunities during my MSc., helping me grow as a researcher, and for being my public health role models. Finally, thank you to all of my friends and family for your patience and unrelenting support, and for always carrying me through tough times and celebrating with me my successes. To my parents, Cynthia and Joseph, whose support and encouragement is with me in everything I pursue, thank you for your sacrifices and for instilling in me the value of education. I would not be where I am today without you both. To my MSc. colleagues, Rachel Mutata and Ryan Iverson, thank you for being such incredible companions throughout this journey. I would not have been able to complete this degree without your motivation, support, and all of the laughs we shared along the way. I wish you both success as future public health researchers. It has been a privilege to have the support of everyone during my graduate studies. This accomplishment would not be possible without the contributions of you all. iii Abstract Background: Canadian youth obesity, and comorbidities, have paralleled trends in consuming nutrient-poor foods marketed by the food industry. In Canada, food marketing is largely self- regulated by the food industry under the Canadian Children’s Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative (CAI). Methods: Public television programming records benchmarked the volume of food advertising targeted to preschoolers, children, adolescents, and adults on Canadian television. Food advertising rates and frequencies were compared by age group, television station, month, food category, and company, using regression modelling, chi-square tests and principal component analysis. Results: Food advertising rates significantly differed by all independent variables. Fast food companies dominated advertising during adolescent-programming while food and beverage manufacturers dominated advertising during programming to all other age groups. CAI signatories contributed more advertising during children’s programming than non-signatories. Conclusion: Failings of self-regulation in limiting food advertising to Canadian youth demonstrate the need for statutory restrictions to rectify youth’s obesogenic media environments and their far-reaching health effects. iv Description of chapters This thesis follows a “thesis by article” style. Chapter 1 of this thesis describes the background of the problem, provides a review of the national and international literature and policies on food advertising as well as the contributions of our research to the existing literature. Chapter 2 provides a concise overview of the materials used, statistical analyses performed, and methodological challenges encountered while carrying out the research. Chapters 3 and 4 contain the two component articles of this thesis. Chapter 5 further discusses the findings and policy implications of the research conducted in both component articles. v Table of Contents Preface .......................................................................................................................................................... ii Acknowledgements .................................................................................................................................... iii Abstract ....................................................................................................................................................... iv Description of chapters ............................................................................................................................... v List of Tables ............................................................................................................................................ viii List of Figures ........................................................................................................................................... viii Abbreviations ............................................................................................................................................. ix Chapter 1: Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 1 1.1 Background of the Problem ................................................................................................................ 1 1.2 Television Food Advertising ............................................................................................................... 3 1.3 Television Viewership in Canada ....................................................................................................... 6 1.4 Review of International Research on Advertising to Children ........................................................... 8 1.5 Review of Canadian Research on Advertising to Children ................................................................ 9 1.6 International Food Marketing Policy ................................................................................................ 12 1.6.1. Government and Industry Coregulation ................................................................................... 12 1.6.2. Statutory Regulation ................................................................................................................. 13 1.6.3. Industry Self-Regulation ........................................................................................................... 16 1.7 Food Marketing Policy in Canada .................................................................................................... 18 1.7.1 Quebec ....................................................................................................................................... 18 1.7.2 Rest of Canada ........................................................................................................................... 19 1.7.2 Canadian Legislation - Bill S-228 ............................................................................................. 23 1.8 Rationale of Thesis ........................................................................................................................... 25 1.9 Specific Research Objectives and Hypotheses