Child-oriented marketing techniques in snack food packages in Guatemala

BMC Public Health

Joaquin Barnoya¹  Paola Letona²  Violeta Chacon² 

[1] Division of Public Health Sciences, Department of Surgery, Washington University in St. Louis, School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri, USA;Department of Research, Cardiovascular Surgery Unit of Guatemala, Guatemala City, Guatemala

关键词: Children;    Snack food;    Marketing;   

Others  :  1161655
DOI  :  10.1186/1471-2458-13-967

 received in 2013-05-23, accepted in 2013-10-11,  发布年份 2013

【 摘 要 】

Background

Childhood overweight in Guatemala is now becoming a public health concern. Child-oriented marketing contributes to increase children’s food preference, purchase and consumption. This study sought to assess the availability of child-oriented snack foods sold in school kiosks and convenience stores near public schools in Guatemala, to identify the marketing techniques used in child-oriented snack food packages and to classify the snacks as “healthy” or “less-healthy”.

Methods

We purchased all child-oriented snacks found in stores inside and within 200 square meters from four schools in an urban community. Snacks were classified as child-oriented if the package had any promotional characters, premium offers, children′s television/movie tie-ins, sports references, or the word “child”. We used a checklist to assess child-oriented references and price. Snacks were classified as “healthy” or “less-healthy” according to the UK standards for the Nutritional Profiling Model.

Results

We analyzed 106 packages found in 55 stores. The most commonly used technique was promotional characters (92.5%) of which 32.7% were brand-specific characters. Premium offers were found in 34% of packages and were mostly collectibles (50%). Most marketing techniques were located on the front and covered nearly 25% of the package surface. Median (interquartile range) price was US$ 0.19 (0.25). Nutrition labels were found in 91 (86%) packages and 41% had a nutrition related health claim. Most snacks (97.1%) were classified as “less-healthy”.

Conclusion

In Guatemala, the food industry targets children through several marketing techniques promoting inexpensive and unhealthy snacks in the school environment. Evidence-based policies restricting the use of promotional characters in unhealthy snack food packages need to be explored as a contributing strategy to control the obesity epidemic.

【 授权许可】

   
2013 Chacon et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.

【 图 表 】

Figure 1.

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