Abstract

COSTA, Mariana Luiza Guimarães; OLIVEIRA, Patricia Alves Drummond de  and  AUAD, Sheyla Márcia. Children's television food advertising and the Brazilian nutrition guildelines: agreement or confrontation?. Arq. Odontol. [online]. 2011, vol.47, n.4, pp. 181-187. ISSN 1516-0939.

Aim: This study evaluated the food advertisement content of Brazilian open access television channels during children's programming, analyzed the nutritional value of these products and the use of children's characters for marketing, evaluated if these advertisements were promoting healthy habits during the programming, and if the foods promoted were in accordance with the Brazilian dietary guidelines. Materials and Methods: Recordings were made of Brazilian open access television channels during two weekdays and one day on the weekend, for each channel. The networks' schedule was previously checked so that the recordings were made during children's programming, regardless of the time slot. Results: Out of 119.5 minutes of commercials aired, 28.0 minutes were designated for children (daily average of 9.3 minutes), and of those, 11.8 minutes were dedicated to food product commercials. The use of cartoons or children's characters as a marketing strategy was found in 83.9% of the children's food commercials, while only 5.4 minutes of the total time was directed to broadcast messages concerning education and health. The foods advertised were mostly high-calorie and high in fat, sugars, and sodium. Conclusion: The children's commercials promoted the consumption of potentially cariogenic products, exploited children's characters to increase sales, lacked proper health-promoting messages, and were in disagreement with the Brazilian dietary guidelines.

Keywords : Food publicity.; Television.; Diet.; Child..