Last updated on 28-6-2024 by Laïla Boulbayem
Why do we study marketing to children?
- A child’s health and development are influenced by their food choices and dietary intake.
- Short and long-term eating habits are affected by the exposure to the marketing of unhealthy food that is especially targeted to children.
- Unhealthy eating habits in childhood can continue throughout adulthood and increase the risk of overweight, obesity, and other non-communicable diseases.
How do we do it?
- Parents or caregivers of participants children aged 3 to 9 years answered questions about their purchase of unhealthy food products and related promotional materials in the past month, as well as their concern over their children’s exposure to marketing of unhealthy food.
Key results
Five in ten parents are concerned with the exposure of their children to the marketing of unhealthy food and drinks.
Three in ten children ask their parents for unhealthy food or drinks that have packaging featuring characters from films, TV series, or food companies.
One in ten children has clothing, posters, stickers or other products that show the logo or brand of unhealthy food or drinks.
Marketing to children
Proportion of parents/caregivers of 3 to 9 year old that indicate behaviour towards targeted marketing of food products to children, Belgium, 2022-2023
- Crude = results weighted for season, age, sex, and socioeconomic status.
- Three children in ten ask their parents to buy unhealthy food or drinks displaying characters from films, TV series, or food companies on the packaging in the past month.
- 37% of parents bought unhealthy foods or drinks displaying characters from films, TV series, or food companies on the packaging in the past month.
- One child in ten owns clothes, posters, stickers or other products that show the logo or brand of unhealthy foods or drinks.
Proportion of parents/caregivers of 3 to 9 years old that indicate behaviour towards targeted marketing of food products to children, by education level, Belgium, 2022-2023
- Crude = results weighted for season, age, sex and socioeconomic status.
- The education level is calculated at the household level by considering the highest diploma obtained by: (i) the respondent or their partner for adults (aged 18 years and above), or (ii) the father and mother (or carer, if applicable) for children and adolescents (aged 3 to 17 years). However, for simplicity, we refer to the education level of individuals rather than the education level of their households.
- Parents with low education more often buy food or drinks with packaging that has characters from films, TV series, or food companies (44%) than those with mid (35%) or high education (32%).
- There is no difference by education level about ‘asking to buy’ or ownership of objects with the logo or brand of unhealthy food items.
Proportion of parents/caregivers of 3 to 9 years old that indicate behaviour towards targeted marketing of food products to children, by sex of the children, Belgium, 2022-2023
- Crude = results weighted for season, age, sex and socioeconomic status.
- Between boys and girls, there is no difference in the proportion of children who ask to buy a food product with packaging that displays characters from films, TV series, or food companies.
- Girls are more likely than boys to own items with the logo or brand of unhealthy food products or drinks.
Proportion of parents/caregivers of 3 to 9 years old that indicate behaviour towards targeted marketing of food products to children, by region, Belgium, 2022-2023
- Crude = results weighted for season, age, sex and socioeconomic status.
- Data in Brussels is only available for the question about object ownership.
- Flanders has the highest proportion of children who own an object with the logo or brand of unhealthy food or drinks (14%).
- Flanders has a higher proportion of children who ask for (39%) and parents who buy food products (40%) with packaging displaying characters from films, TV series, or food companies compared to Wallonia (32% and 32% respectively).
Proportion of parents/caregivers of 3 to 9 years old concerned with the amount of advertising of unhealthy food and drinks that their children are exposed to, by region, Belgium, 2022-2023
- Crude = results weighted for season, age, sex and socioeconomic status.
- In Brussels, 67% of parents are concerned with the amount of advertising of unhealthy food or drinks that their children are exposed to.
- 46% of parents in Flanders are concerned with the exposure of their children to advertising of unhealthy food and drinks.
Proportion of parents/caregivers of 3 to 9 years old who are concerned with the amount of advertising of unhealthy food and drinks that their children are exposed to, by education level, Belgium, 2022-2023
- Crude = results weighted for season, age, sex and socioeconomic status.
- The education level is calculated at the household level by considering the highest diploma obtained by: (i) the respondent or their partner for adults (aged 18 years and above), or (ii) the father and mother (or carer, if applicable) for children and adolescents (aged 3 to 17 years). However, for simplicity, we refer to the education level of individuals rather than the education level of their households.
- The proportion of parents who are concerned with the amount of advertising of unhealthy food and drinks that their children are exposed to is the highest among individuals with a high level of education.
Proportion of parents/caregivers of 3 to 9 years old who are concerned with the amount of advertising of unhealthy food and drinks that their children are exposed to, by sex of children, Belgium, 2022-2023
- Crude = results weighted for season, age, sex and socioeconomic status.
- Parents of girls (54%) are more concerned with the amount of advertising of unhealthy food and drinks that their children are exposed to than parents of boys (46%).
Please cite this page as: Sciensano. Determinants of food choice: Marketing to children, Food Consumption Survey 2022-2023, June 2024, Brussels, Belgium, https://www.sciensano.be/en/results-food-consumption-survey-2022-2023/determinants-food-choice/marketing-children