Child-Centric Food Marketing and Nutritional Influences

Food marketing aimed at children exerts a profound influence on dietary choices and long-term health trajectories. Marketers deploy an array of strategies—from brightly coloured packaging adorned with cartoon characters to digital games and celebrity endorsements—to cultivate strong brand preferences during early development. Such child-appeal techniques frequently promote products high in sugar, fat and salt, contributing to poor dietary quality and rising rates of childhood overweight and obesity. Concurrently, parent-appeal marketing through health or natural claims can create confusion over a product’s true nutritional value and may undermine efforts to foster balanced eating habits within the household. The interaction between these dual targets—children and caregivers—operates within broader food environments shaped by pricing, accessibility and regulatory frameworks. Emerging research highlights not only the persuasive power of front-of-pack and multimedia campaigns but also the psychological processes that mediate children’s taste perceptions and parents’ purchasing decisions. Global public health bodies have responded with nutrient profiling schemes and restrictions on marketing to children, yet disparities in implementation and enforcement persist. Translating evidence into policy requires a nuanced understanding of marketing power, the nutritional composition of promoted foods and the social contexts in which choices are made. By integrating insights from content analyses, experimental studies and population surveys, stakeholders can design effective interventions—from stricter packaging regulations to educational initiatives—that support healthier diets throughout childhood and beyond.

Research from Nature Portfolio

No recent Nature Portfolio content available.

Child-Centric Food Marketing and Nutritional Influences publication trend

The graph below shows the total number of articles in child-centric food marketing and nutritional influences across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).

Technical terms

Front-of-pack marketing: Promotional elements (images, characters, claims) displayed on the main face of a food package to influence consumer choice.

Child-appeal marketing: Strategies specifically designed to attract children’s attention and foster positive associations with a product, often employing cartoons, colours or interactive elements.

Ultra-processed foods: Industrial formulations typically high in refined sugars, fats, salt and additives, associated with lower dietary quality and adverse health outcomes.

Nutrient profiling: A systematic method for classifying foods based on their nutrient composition to determine their suitability for marketing, labelling or dietary guidance.

References

1. Characterising Parent-Appeal Marketing on Foods for Children: A Scoping Review. Current Nutrition Reports (2024).
2. What Is the Nutritional Quality of Pre-Packed Foods Marketed to Children in Food Stores? A Survey in Switzerland. Nutrients (2024).
3. The role of food packaging on children's diet: Insights for the design of comprehensive regulations to encourage healthier eating habits in childhood and beyond. Food Quality and Preference (2022).