“Marketing through Claims”: A Cross-Sectional Analysis of Child-Targeted Food Packaging Claims within the Spanish Market

Food advertising, especially on packaging, impacts children’s choices. Food companies make different claims on packaging as a marketing techniques to make their products more appealing, enhancing their perceived healthiness, even in unhealthy products. Although the use of some claims is regulated, t...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nutrients 2023-11, Vol.15 (21), p.4548
Main Authors: Arraztio-Cordoba, Alazne, Montero-Simo, Maria Jose, Araque-Padilla, Rafael A.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Children & youth
Classification
Cross-sectional studies
Data collection
Food
Food industry
Food products
Marketing
Nutrition
Product reviews
Supermarkets
Citations: Items that this one cites
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Summary:Food advertising, especially on packaging, impacts children’s choices. Food companies make different claims on packaging as a marketing techniques to make their products more appealing, enhancing their perceived healthiness, even in unhealthy products. Although the use of some claims is regulated, there are legal loopholes that could confuse young consumers and that concern global authorities. To shed light on the matter, it is necessary to have a comprehensive understanding of the performance of all types of claims made by food companies in food products targeting children. We examined 458 products from Spanish markets in two periods through a cross-sectional content analysis. Our findings reveal that existing policies are working due to the decrease in nutrition claims, but there is a growth in soft claims that are unregulated and potentially confusing and attractive to children. Considering that most of the products analyzed are unhealthy, this emphasizes the importance of implementing stricter regulations to create a healthier and more reliable food environment for children.
ISSN:2072-6643
2072-6643
DOI:10.3390/nu15214548