Digital food marketing (DFM) increases the consumption of unhealthy foods and beverages that are high in salt, sugar, and saturated fats by influencing children’s and teenagers’ brand awareness, attitudes, purchase intentions, and recall. It is crucial to understand fully how kids, teenagers, and parents perceive DFM in order to develop effective health policies and advocacy. The boundaries between advertising and entertainment are frequently blurred as DFM uses interactive content, targeted advertisements, and influencers to shape eating habits.
Several research studies demonstrated that DFM increased the consumption of unhealthy food products and altered marketing strategies, making regulation more difficult. Policymakers, families, and civil society can work together to promote change by mapping attitudes and awareness. The recent scoping review published in Health Promotion International aimed to review the previously published literature on attitudes towards DFM and its consequences for public policy and health.
This review was conducted following Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines using various databases such as Scopus, Medline, CINAHL, PsycINFO, and Academic Search Complete (Ebscohost).
According to Irish policy and the World Health Organization (WHO), age definitions and publications on adolescents, children, and young adults, along with their parents, were included. Only DFM studies (Food, snack, drink, beverage, and soda) published after 2000 in Portuguese, Spanish, German, Polish, and English were included. Studies focused on social marketing, alcohol, and non-digital marketing, and adults were excluded.
After applying the search strategy and screening process, 40 peer-reviewed studies were included in the data synthesis. Most of the studies are from Australia, at 25%, followed by EU countries at 17.5%, Canada at 15%, and the United Kingdom at 15%. Studies like experimental designs (17.5%), cross-sectional surveys (40%), and group interviews (20%) were included.
Approximately 77.5% of studies focused on children/young people/adolescents, 12.5% on children and their parents, and 10% on parents. Additionally, 67.5% examined DFM through social media.
Based on 31 studies of children and youngsters, it was found that differing levels of awareness were observed regarding DFM via social media and other digital platforms, including online, influencer marketing, YouTube ads, advergames, banner ads, etc. Some children understand social media strategies, while others have trouble identifying the advertisements. They are especially drawn to influencer marketing and ads that blend in with the regular context. Research on parents was limited, but nine studies suggest that parents have low awareness of digital marketing targeted at children and hold mixed opinions on policies.
This review has several limitations including exclusion of grey literature, lacks a risk of bias assessment, dependence on single reviewer data extraction, and the potential omission of relevant publications.
In conclusion, this review highlights the need for research and advocacy from different fields to develop digital marketing strategies, improve digital literacy among children and their parents, share knowledge, and create better regulations to protect children from harmful food consumption. Â
Reference: Vaughan E, Muc Da Encarnacao M, Brown E, Nealon Lennox O, Kelly C, Tatlow-Golden M. A scoping review of children’s and parents’ attitudes to and awareness of digital food marketing. Health Promot Int. 2025;40(2):daae189. doi:10.1093/heapro/daae189
